Fading Memories
by crazy34
Summary: It's been about ten years, and Naruto's finally brought Sasuke back. Does this bring on something more than a friendship, completely destroying someone's life and rebuilding others? Can what they have last? SasuNaru
1. The Reunion

**First Off: **This is my first "Rated M" and "Yaoi" story, and I'm glad to post it so soon! I hope you people like it. Maybe even love it. Enjoy!

**Warning:** This is a Fanfiction, which means a story written by fans. I can do anything, like make bizarre couples. **(i.e. Neji/Kiba, which will NOT come up). **One of my couples are questionable, but I fit it in in a way that makes sense, unlike starting the story like it.

**Disclaimer: **I, like almost everyone on this sight, do not own Naruto. Or any other anime, for that matter. I just own several Naruto items, the ideas, and the computer.

--- June 17 ---

Everything was black. All around him, he was consumed with darkness. Then, a white flash lit everything up, causing him to cover his eyes. The light left as suddenly as it had come. He pulled his arm down and looked at his surroundings. The darkness was gone, replaced by the trees from the middle of a forest. In every direction, the trees seemed to swallow him up. The flash came again, lighting up the trees, causing him to cover his eyes again. But it flashed away. The still and silent trees turned darker. Soft rain hit the leaves with a pitter-patter noise. It started softly, but soon started pouring. The flash lit up again, hurting his eyes. When it went away, he could see the silhouette of a figure.

The figure was kneeling on the ground, one hand supporting the figure by clutching a nearby tree trunk. The figure looked similar to him, he observed. Another flash and another silhouette appeared beside the first. This one was standing, and by his position, he was looking triumphant. Quickly, another flash came, revealing yet another figure. Just by its looks he knew who it was. The figure's hair was pulled back in a single ponytail, and big glasses covered his face. It was Kabuto, which meant the tall figure was Orochimaru, and most likely the kneeling figure was he.

Another flash, another figure. This figure was farther away from the first three; it was angry and didn't quite fit in. This one was shorter than the rest, and it had hair poking out in every direction.

Another flash came to light everything up again. This time, everything seemed to move. The Orochimaru figure struck something into the silhouette that he thought was himself in the first few seconds. His figure's hand slipped from the tree trunk and landed head-first onto the ground.

Kabuto and Orochimaru laughed. He could hear the boom of their laughter over the rain. The fourth figure, the newest one, caught his attention. A bright red color was expelling from its body. The figure lunged at Kabuto, who fell to the ground. It did the same to Orochimaru. He, too, fell to the ground.

As soon as Orochimaru hit the ground, red stopped expelling from the new figure. It picked up the first silhouette, and seemed to be mourning.

The first silhouette spoke. "I'm sorry… Dobe." He was right. It was himself. It was his body, his voice, his blood.

When the other figure talked, its voice had an angry tone. "You will not die, Sasuke!" He knew right away who the voice belonged to. Naruto.

Suddenly, he felt something in his hands. It was a tingle, not of pain or pleasure. He looked down at his hands. There was enough light to see them out of the little light there was, since it was raining and in the middle of a forest. To his surprise, both of his hands were slowly fading away. He could also feel it in his feet. He tore his eyes away from his hands, which were completely gone and now his arms were starting to fade, to his feet. They were faded and gone up to his knees.

Summoning up his remaining strength, he shouted to the figures in the distance. "Naruto! Help me!" He got no response. His shoulders were starting to fade away now. "Naruto!" he screamed. Still no reply. His neck was slowly fading. "Naruto! Save me! Help! Naruto!" Nothing. Tears were pouring out of his shocked eyes. "NARUTOOOOOOOO!" he cried out, only to have his mouth fade away. In seconds, there was nothing left of him in the now pitch-black area.

---

"Naruto!" he cried, abruptly sitting up from his resting place. He was panting and drenched in sweat.

As soon as he realized what he had said, he cupped his mouth. _'Orochimaru will be upset with me for thinking of him again,'_ he told himself. His eyes darted to the door. Or at least where the door was supposed to be. Instead, he was looking through a window facing a mountain with five faces on it.

Behind him, he heard a door knob twisting. "Did you call?" asked a boy no older than Sasuke entering the room. He had spiky blond hair and the most captivating, most breathtaking electric blue eyes. He was very skinny and had long appendages, and almost as tall as Sasuke.

Sasuke was taken aback by the boy's beauty. Then, he shook the thought out of his head. "Why am I here?" he demanded, pulling his legs out from under the blanket in which he had been sleeping under and flung them over the bed.

The boy leaned his shoulder against the door, his arms folded across his chest. "Isn't it obvious?" he said in a "duh" voice. "I promised I would bring you back. It wasn't easy, but I pulled it off.

Sasuke scowled at the blond. "That's not what I meant, Naruto-dobe! I mean, why did you bring me back," he growled. "I had my reasons for leaving."

"And I had my reasons for bringing you back!" angrily snapped Naruto. He was getting fed-up with Sasuke. _'Man, if I knew he was going to bitch about it, I would have never brought the teme back!'_ he silently protested.

"You idiot! You didn't ever know why I left. I left for your own-" Sasuke started, but Naruto cut him off. "You're the idiot, Sasuke! To think you could leave Konoha behind! Heck, to believe no one would ever find out why!" Naruto retorted. Sasuke was a little taken aback by Naruto's anger and abruptness. "Sasuke, I know why you left! You left because you didn't want to use your seal to tap into unknown powers that could overcome you. Sasuke, if you thought I was blind and stupid for even a second, you're wrong!"

Sasuke was silent for a few minutes. Naruto's usual kind and sweet face was full of anger, while Sasuke showed no expression but surprise. _'D-Did Naruto actually figure that out?' _Sasuke pondered.

With all expression wiped off his face, Sasuke looked Naruto in the eyes. "What was your reason for bringing me back here?" he inquired. It was so hard for him to keep a straight face while looking into Naruto's eyes. They almost seemed to be priceless sapphire. They had always been.

"Sasuke," Naruto's eyes shifted to the floor, but he pulled them back up to his friend. "Konoha hasn't been the same since you left. Plus I promised to bring you back, which I did. All the training I did was to bring you back. Besides, training for ten years with Orochimaru is a little too long. Some of us felt as if you should return. It's hard to live without you, so we decided to not to."

"You realize Orochimaru will come back to take me away," snapped Sasuke.

Naruto scowled at Sasuke. "I am aware. The second you figure that out, maybe I'll treat you like a real friend." He turned around and started out the door, but stopped and faced Sasuke one last time. "Oh, and if you were trying so hard to forget Konoha and us, you wouldn't wake up from your nightmares screaming my name as if I'm the last person on Earth." He stepped out and closed the door, leaving Sasuke alone and staring blankly where he had just been standing.

'_He deserved that'_ Naruto thought, but somehow, somewhere inside him, he disagreed.

---

Sasuke was shocked. _'How could he… how could he know about that? I mean, this is Naruto we're talking about! How did he know?!'_

Sasuke lay back and stared at the ceiling, still trying to unsuccessfully find the answers he was looking for. Instead of finding answers, he found his stomach growling in hunger. He sat up and stretched, looking at the clock. It was a few minutes past noon.

He stood up and walked to the door, but paused. _'Would Naruto let me?' _he asked himself. Then he rolled his eyes. _'Of course he would. I'm not a stranger.'_

The raven-haired boy opened the door slowly and quietly. He left it open and walked down the short hallway. In one of the rooms he passed by was Naruto on a dark green couch, reading a book. He looked up when Sasuke walked by and asked, "Sasuke, what're you doing?"

Sasuke stopped, rolled his eyes, and turned around. "I'm hungry, so I was going to make some lunch. Want me to get you something?" He was facing Naruto, a smile on his face. If he was going to earn trust, he had better start out kind. _'But just to Naruto,'_ he swore.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, confused for a minute, but shrugged. "Sure," he answered. "I'll have whatever you're eating. Kitchen's down the hall, last room on the right." He smiled pleasantly at Sasuke.

Sasuke turned the direction to the kitchen, smirking. Earning Naruto's trust was easy, since it was already there from the start. _'Now to get something off my shoulders…' _Sasuke planned his next move as he entered the kitchen.

Naruto had a truly beautiful kitchen. It was a smaller kitchen and was mostly closed in. Parallel to the door was a window over the sink, facing the side-yard. On the back-wall was a countertop with the oven, microwave, and cabinets and cupboards full of pots, pans, and spices. To Sasuke's immediate left was the refrigerator, parallel to the microwave oven. Then, the countertop was made into a bar with cabinets above his head. There was a small space between the bar and the dishwasher on the wall with the sink that lead to the dining room with a dinner table seated for four.

"Now let's see what Naruto has to eat…" Sasuke declared to him, half-hoping there was enough ingredients for the both of them.

---

There were enough ingredients in Naruto's fridge for four bowls of ramen. Although ramen never had been Sasuke's favorite, he decided he would eat it anyway. After all, he hadn't had ramen for about ten years.

Sasuke poured a little bit of ramen into a bowl and tasted it. "Well," he sighed, "it's pretty good for someone who hasn't made it in ten years." He quickly slurped down the rest of the ramen in the bowl.

Stomach satisfied, he walked to the room Naruto was in. He was still reading his book on his couch in the same position. "Naruto, lunch is ready," he informed.

Naruto looked up from his book and smiled. "Thanks Sasuke," he replied. He stood up and walked through the door, brushing against Sasuke accidentally. Sasuke didn't seem to notice. But looks can be deceiving…

It was Naruto's nose to figure out what Sasuke made. He burst into the kitchen, eyes locked onto the table. For Naruto were three bowls of Sasuke's homemade hot, steamy ramen. He looked over his to his guest, grinning.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, smiling. "It doesn't take a genus to figure out what you wanted," he said, mostly to himself.

Naruto quickly sat down and grabbed his chopsticks off the table, digging into the concoction of broth, noodles, meat, and vegetables. He slurped up his first bowl quickly. "These are delicious!" he exclaimed as he started on his second bowl.

He paused as Sasuke sat down opposite of him, but continued on eating his bowl. The ramen in that bowl was gone in about two minutes. As he inserted his chopsticks into the third one, he looked up at Sasuke and asked, "Aren't you going to eat any?"

Sasuke smiled and shook his head. "I already had mine," he said lazily. Naruto stared at him. Sasuke saw the little confusion in his eyes. "What?"

"But aren't you hungry? I know I barely had any food in the fridge, and for three bowls, that's an awful lot."

Sasuke sighed. He shook his head. "Naruto," he said slowly, "I've grown used to eating very little. I ate my fill."

But Naruto wouldn't take this as an answer. "Sasuke, for there to be this much, you mustn't have even eaten half a bowl." He slid the bowl across the table. "Have this."

Sasuke didn't find the bowl of food inviting. "I'm not hungry, Naruto," he protested sharply.

"Sasuke, please eat the ramen. You won't be with Orochimaru ever again, and I don't want you an anorexic. So eat." It was a cross between an invite and a demand, and Sasuke didn't want to push Naruto any more.

He grabbed the chopsticks, picked up some noodles, blew on them to cool them off, and stuffed them in his mouth. He did the same until he got used to the taste, then dug in, but not as excited as Naruto had been. _'Naruto's right,_' he thought, _'I _am_ hungry. Maybe all those years of being with Orochimaru do ware off.' _When the bowl was empty, Sasuke looked up at Naruto. "Happy?" he asked. It came out kind of rude, but he didn't care.

"Yes. Yes I am," Naruto replied, folding his arms across his chest. He had a slight grin. Or was it a smirk? Sasuke couldn't tell.

Sasuke put his right elbow on the table, the back of his hand supporting his chin. His left hand was lying on the table horizontally in front of his right elbow. He looked at Naruto with a serious look in his eyes. This made Naruto somewhat uncomfortable. "Naruto," he said slowly, sounding out each syllable. It was almost like he was saying something he was uncomfortable saying, but it had to be said, "when I was with Orochimaru, I realized something. Out of everything that happened in Konoha ten years ago, the only thing that really meant anything to me was you."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Sasuke, that's because I was the last one you saw when you left," Naruto pointed out.

"But Naruto, that's not the point. Every dream I had, you were there for me, sometimes in ways I didn't even imagine possible. Naruto, it only took me about a year to figure this out, but I love you." Sasuke almost seemed to hold his breath when he was done. He wasn't sure if Naruto would accept him, but at least he said it. It felt like a thousand pounds were lifted off his shoulders.

Naruto smiled. "I love you too, Sasuke," he replied simply.

Sasuke pounded his fist on the table. "That's not the way I meant, Naruto." Sasuke had caught the tone in Naruto's voice that didn't think the way Sasuke was. "I mean, I love you," he said it softly. In a second, he was behind Naruto, his arms wrapped around Naruto. "Not like, love." There was a smile of true happiness on his face.

Naruto stared straight ahead. Sasuke's words were still ringing in his head. "L-l-l-love?" he repeated. This was hurting his head. He broke away from Sasuke's grasp. He grabbed his jacket off the hook and opened the door. "I'll be back in a few hours," he said, almost zombie-like.


	2. The Decision

**A/N - **For those who have been reading, I thank you. A little fact on this story: The Rookie 9 are all 23 years old now. That makes Kakashi... 37! Wow that's old!

**Disclaimer - **Being apart of Fanfiction means I don't own anything, like Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, etc. I'm not that rich...

--- June 17 ---

"Kaka-sensei! Over here!" Naruto yelled. He was running towards his old sensei.

Kakashi turned to face Naruto. "Oh, hello Naruto," he said. His mask covered his smile, but Naruto could read it in his eyes. Naruto skidded to a stop in front of Kakashi. "Hey, sensei, can we spar later? I need to keep up my training since the Ero-sannin is away on a mission. And besides, I need some time away from home…" _'And Sasuke'_ he mentally added.

Kakashi nodded. "Sure. Why not?" He turned around. "I'm going to eat lunch first. I'll meet you at the old training grounds at about one. Until then, see you," he said, waving his hand as he walked away.

Naruto looked at his watch, which read 12:37. _'I have about twenty minutes. What to do?'_ he asked himself.

His answer came to him when someone yelled his voice. He spun around to see Sakura rushing towards him. "Naruto!" she hollered, waving her hand above her head. Naruto grinned at her. "Hey Sakura," he said coolly.

Sakura had really changed over the last few years. Her light pink hair was now barely touching her hips. Her breast size had doubled, making Naruto more attracted to her. She was more intelligent and way stronger. One out-of-place statement and Naruto could end up at the hospital she worked at.

She looked up at him with her dull green eyes. "Is Sasuke really back?" she asked. Her eyes were gleaming, in spite the dullness. She looked at him with hope, but it was for Sasuke, not him.

"Yeah, but he's not in the best mood right now," Naruto lied, rolling his eyes. He knew that Sasuke would just say the same thing to her. After all, her love for him was as hot as ever, and now that he's back, it would only blossom more.

Her eyes widened in surprise, and a smile crossed her face. She closed her eyes and pressed her hand to her heart. She held it there, but quickly took it down and looked at Naruto. "Please, Naruto," she whined. "Please let me see Sasuke?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her. "And just to think you were dating Lee." He shook his head. "No means no, Sakura, so I won't let you see Sasuke."

Sakura stormed off. "At least will you tell me where he is?" she yelled, turning to face Naruto. Naruto shook his head. "If you knew where Sasuke was, you would see him in a flash. And he isn't in the mood to be visited."

Sakura stormed off. Naruto sighed. _'Stubborn bitch is probably going to look for him,' _Naruto predicted.

He checked his watch again. It was almost 12:50. _'Well, a great way to waist time.'_ He took off in a sprint to the place where Kakashi had challenged team seven to a contest for two bells years ago.

- - -

"Kaka-sensei, you said one, not one-thirty!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, I got busy persuading Tsunade out of a mission she scheduled for me. She's not the most reasonable person, you know."

Naruto growled. "For this spar," he announced, "we can us weapons and jutsu techniques, but I am not to release Kyuubi. Got it?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Are you sure you want me to use my Sharingan?" he asked. Naruto just nodded. "You'll be surprised, sensei!"

- - -

"Naruto, when you challenged me to a spar, I thought you would be all for fighting. But, if something's on your mind, we could call it quits," Kakashi said, out of nowhere.

They were in the middle of a treeless area. Naruto hadn't been fighting much. He had something on his mind that wouldn't leave. This subject was Sasuke. "Kakashi, I'm sorry. I want to fight. And I will!" He charged at Kakashi, about to deliver a punch to his stomach. Kakashi jumped away and Naruto jumped up, too. He punched Kakashi, who turned into a log. "Substitution jutsu!" Naruto said to himself, landing on the ground. He looked around. He looked up. Kakashi was no where to be seen.

Suddenly, Naruto jumped up. A hand had appeared above the ground where Naruto had just been. Kakashi sprang up from the ground, a smile behind his mask. _'So he finally is willing to fight for real…'_ he observed.

- - -

Kakashi and Naruto were facing each other. Several trees had been knocked down. Both Jounin were panting heavily. Kakashi stood upward, pulling his headband over his Sharingan eye. "That's enough for today," he said simply.

Naruto stood upright and nodded. "Yes sensei." He smiled. "That was a good fight!" Kakashi nodded. "You make a worthy opponent, pulling those kinds of unpredictable moves. But it's almost dark."

Naruto wiped some blood from his lip. "Good night, sensei!" He pulled his hands together and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto landed at the edge of a pool. The trees swayed in the twilight breeze. A huge waterfall pounded on the water a little ways away, and little ripples met the shore he was standing on. He quickly stripped to his boxers and dived into the icy water. It was the perfect thing to relax his hot and sweaty body.

He noticed someone watching him from the trees. _'Probably Ero-sannin looking for "research"'_ Naruto thought. Then, he got an idea. He was going to pull a prank on his sensei. He turned into his woman form in nothing but a bikini. A smile whipped across his face. He pretended to play for a few minutes when he fell over accidentally. "Ow, my ankle!" he exclaimed in his feminine voice. As he stood up, another idea for the prank popped into his head.

He purposely tripped over a rock, falling on his side. He pretended to wince. "I tripped over my ankle again," he observed, making his voice sound hurt.

The figure in the trees stirred, but didn't move. He could barely see the silhouette, but he could tell it was a human, but it was too far away to see much else. It looked big. Naruto smirked to himself. _'So it is the ero-sannin!'_

He stood up again, but his foot slipped. He tumbled into the water with a "whoa!" and started to sink. When he tried to swim up, a sharp pain shot through his ankle and he gasped. Water filled his mouth and went down his throat. _'Shit! My air!' _he yelped in his head. He tried swimming up again, but the pain in his ankle grew worse. His eyesight, already blurry from the water, became more blurry. He hadn't noticed his jutsu had worn off.

Suddenly, he felt something grab his hand. It started pulling him up fast. Before he knew it, it pulled him up to the surface. It laid him on the shore, but Naruto sat up and started coughing and choking. He threw up water twice. He wiped his mouth and looked at the figure. He stared at it in surprise, and it did the same.

They both exclaimed the other's name at the same time. "Naruto!?" exclaimed the person. "Sasuke!?" exclaimed Naruto.

The first to recover was Sasuke. "Naruto, take it easy. You're lucky I was here to save you," he said in a quiet voice. To Naruto, he was acting normally, almost like what had happened at lunch hadn't happened.

"Sa-Sasuke?" he said slowly. Luckily for him, the pool was fresh water. Salt water would have killed his throat. "W-what are you doing here?"

Sasuke looked down at Naruto in sadness. "I was just… getting some fresh air." His gaze hit the ground. "Naruto," he started softly. He paused, looked at Naruto's expression, then continued, "if I wasn't here, you would probably been dead."

"That's not true!" Naruto piped. "I thought you were Jiraiya, so it was my fault. Not yours."

Silence. No one said anything for a few minutes. Then, Sasuke had a confused look on his face. "What do you mean, 'I thought you were Jiraiya'?" He stared at Naruto the way a mother would stare at a child who had just broken a rule. "You weren't going to pull a prank on your sensei, were you Naruto?"

Naruto grinned. "That old geezer needs a prank every once in a while. I mean, he's always busy with something other than training with me," Naruto stated.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Sasuke. "You never pull tricks on your sensei! That's disrespecting them! Which is rude!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Sensei's just not my kind of guy. I mean, he doesn't even care about me-."

"What do you mean, 'not my kind of guy'?" Sasuke inquired.

Naruto shrugged. "I guess I want him to care about me, but also care about himself. I don't know. Probably someone who can relate with me, knows my experiences, and cares about me enough to be with me more than to teach me a simple thing and leave. I don't care if he's nice, mean, ugly, perverted, whatever."

Of course, Naruto was talking about a sensei. But Sasuke didn't quite get the same idea. He leaned down and kissed Naruto. _'This is our chance. The perfect time to kiss, and the perfect time to decide, Naruto,' _he almost smiled as this echoed in his head.

Naruto froze when he felt the lips of his fellow Jounin pressing against his own. He almost panicked. _'Settle down, Naruto. Okay, let's think this through.' _Naruto mentally hit himself. Hard. '_You just described Sasuke, you dobe! Okay, so you just broke up. Why not try it?'_

'_No!' _screamed another part of his head. _'That was a straight relationship. What if you want to go back to it?'_

'_But Sasuke really loves me! I want to give him a chance…'_

'_No! Don't give him a chance! He's mental! Gay!'_

This was really giving Naruto a headache. There were so many reasons to return the kiss, but so many not to. He couldn't decide.

Sasuke started to pull his lips from Naruto's. _'I guess he doesn't want to love me,' _he decided sadly.

To both of their surprise, Naruto captured Sasuke's lips with his own. Sasuke almost smirked, as he returned Naruto's kiss. Slowly, because he didn't want to rush things, Sasuke pressed his body against Naruto's. He grabbed the back of Naruto's sopping wet hair with his left and held Naruto's face in his right, while Naruto placed his hands against Sasuke's chest. They stayed like that, kissing, for a few minutes.

Suddenly, Naruto broke away. He didn't exactly want to, but he had to. He turned his head to the side and started coughing. "You know, it's kinda weird," he said after his coughing fit, "to kiss right after almost drowning."

Sasuke shook his head at Naruto and stood up. "Stay," he demanded, as he walked to the opposite side of the shore and picked up Naruto's clothes. A dark red color spread across his face when he realized he was in nothing but his boxers. He walked back and threw the clothes at Naruto. "You'll get sick if you don't wear anything but your underwear. If you need me, I'll be at your house," he said, walking away.


	3. The Problem

**Yay! Chapter 3 is up!** **I know, this one is kind of boring, more than the first two, but I still like it. **

**And the best part is, it's the end of the school year! After Thursday, I'll have all summer to put this up. Except for the two weeks I'm going to Oregon, but still...**

**Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Naruto. Then, Deidara would still have a right arm. I'm angry at Kakashi... Bleh!**

--- June 17 ---

The door slammed shut behind Naruto as he entered the house. He took off his shoes before stepping on the carpet. He ran through the front room and past the kitchen and dining room to the entertainment room. Sure enough, Sasuke was sitting on the couch, staring at the T.V. screen.

He noticed Naruto enter. He scooted over to the arm of the couch and patted the cushion. Naruto stepped over and sat down next to Sasuke, making no body contact. But that didn't stop Sasuke. Sasuke leaned his head against Naruto's shoulder, offering him the remote. Naruto took it awkwardly and stared at the remote for a few minutes, trying to figure out what to do with it. He finally just turned the T.V. off.

Sasuke was expecting a move like this. They sat in silence for a few moments. Suddenly, Naruto said, "Sasuke, about earlier… Well, it's hard. I mean, I just broke up, and now this… What I mean is, Sasuke, it'll be hard for me to, well, you know, actually get into the relationship." He bit his lip as his face turned red. This was the most awkward thing to ever happen in his life.

Sasuke nodded. "I understand," he answered, staring at a black television screen. Naruto wanted to know what he was thinking about, so he asked. He didn't get the reaction he expected from Sasuke. "You… You won't allow this to work, will you? You'll probably find it too; I don't know how to put it. You're the biggest loser on this earth, Naruto," Sasuke smiled. He was joking, but his eyes were watering. Not enough to flood down his face, but enough to be seen.

This hit Naruto with surprise. He could never even imagine Sasuke to cry, ever. So why now? Naruto knew he was joking. So, as softly as he could, Naruto said, "Sasuke, I'll try my hardest to make this work out. It'll just be hard, because it's so sudden and so different. I mean, it must be challenging for you too, right?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, but it's easier for me. After all, I've always been gay," – he smirked – "and I've always been gay for you." A smile was planted on Sasuke's face. He removed his head from Naruto's comfortable shoulder. He looked at Naruto's face. His big blue eyes, his attractive whisker-like markings, and his big, broad grin. He loved them all. Sasuke, of course, didn't look half-bad himself. He had raven-blue eyes, midnight hair covering his face, and a smile that reached into his eyes. If Naruto decided to go through this, they would be the most attractive, most beautiful couple in all of Konoha, taking away the fact that they were both boys. Sasuke had to hold himself back from the blonde's face, just about a foot way, to stop himself from kissing him.

Unable to keep his mind off Naruto, he asked, "So, what have you been up to for almost eleven years?"

Naruto was glad of the question, fore he knew he could not hold a good conversation with Sasuke about much without getting awkward. "Well, there's been a lot of things. First off, I left for the first two years, training. When I got back, I was surprised to find everyone but three of us chuunin. I was the only genin, while Neji and Shino were Jounin. So, I quickly worked my way up to chuunin, which wasn't hard."

"Then, they put us back on squads. I happened to get Hinata and Shikamaru, since Shino had become Jounin. But after a few weeks, Shikamaru left our squad because he was in a program that put him with a sand village shinobi. His replacement was Lee. Then, Gaara was added to our squad."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at Naruto. "Gaara?" he repeated.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, something happened to Gaara to make him lose his memories or something like that. He was put onto our squad until he recovered enough to take his title of Kazekage back. And that's when I started dating Hinata."

"Hinata?" inquired Naruto's only audience.

"Yep," Naruto boasted, "Hinata and I went out for a while. Actually, Gaara and I left for a few years, so we haven't been together for that long, but still. It was fun while it lasted."

"What caused you to break up?" asked Sasuke, sounding interested.

Naruto shrugged, "Probably the fact that she had fallen in love with Kiba while we were gone. But hey, I didn't see her for so long, so it wasn't like I was an emotional wreck."

Sasuke nodded. "So, who's dating who?" he asked. Sasuke had never been into rumors or gossip or anything like that, but he thought it would be good information to have.

"Uhh… For sure, Shikamaru is going out with Temari, Hinata's with Kiba now, Neji was married off to Tenten a little while ago, Sakura just broke up with Lee, and Shino was married off for his clan. I think Sakura, Ino, Choji, and Lee are single. And I think I'm with you."

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's chin with his hand. "I know you're with me," he cooed. He allowed his hand to drop Naruto's chin. "So, Ino and Sakura are alone?"

Naruto nodded, his face screwed up. "Sakura broke up with Lee the second she had heard you were back in town, and something happened to Ino to make her have two kids. They look exactly like her, so she says it's natural birth, but we don't buy it."

Sasuke leaned back. So Ino had two kids? She seemed the type to get along with that fine. But then again, that was Ino he was talking about. She could live through rape and torture and be fine. Then, something popped into Sasuke's head as he make a disgusted face. "Sakura _still_ like me?" he whined. His shoulders drooped.

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "It's been so long. You'd think she'd moved on, but she didn't. She bumped into me today, asking for you."

"But I only love you!" Sasuke exclaimed. "I never will love her! I never had! I was nice to her sometimes, but she never interested me." His voice softened. "Naruto," he said slowly, sighing, "she won't give up easily." He smiled at his blonde. "Not unless we fight back." He sat up and stroked Naruto's whiskered jaw.

Naruto just rolled his eyes. "And just how would we do that?" he asked. He didn't seem to care about what Sasuke was doing.

Sasuke smirked a smirk Naruto didn't trust as Sasuke's hand traveled from Naruto's jaw to his neck. "We need to prove to her that you are the only one I love. I have survived this long for you, not her. I don't mean make her jealous and completely ruin her life, banishing her from Konoha and making her try to kill us or break us apart. No, I mean just to put it straight."

"Sasuke, you need to take it softly for women. Be kind and gentle. Believe me, I've had a girlfriend. You haven't exactly been able to have one…" Naruto trailed off, his blue eyes darting towards the floor.

Sasuke pinched his neck to get his attention. And it worked. "Naruto, I don't want a girlfriend," he cooed. "You're all I need." His face got closer to Naruto's, and his lips brushed against the blonde's jaw. Naruto could feel his cool breath as he spoke, making his heart leap.

"I know," Naruto whispered, his eyes staring ahead, looking at nothing in particular distantly. Sasuke's lips worked their way to his mouth and he kissed Naruto. His hands found his way into Naruto's shirt, tracing along his strong chest. Naruto returned his kiss, but quickly pulled away. And just in time. There was a loud knock on the door.

"I'll be right back," Naruto muttered, angry that the door had ruined their moment. He stood up and left Sasuke alone on the couch, straining to listen to who it was. He heard the door open and a "Hi. You're out awfully late," came from his roommate. He could barely hear the person from the other side of the door's voice. All he caught was "--llo, Naruto. - ---- -ver to give you some mis- -ork. How are you toda-?" He heard something like that.

"Thanks! You make the best miso pork!" Naruto replied. Sasuke could hear the smile in his face. Then there was a pause. "I'm sorry, I'm busy now. Could you come back over…Maybe in a few days?" his blond suggested.

Sasuke stepped out into the hall, trying to get a view on who Naruto was talking to. He was in a position where he could only see who they were, not the opposite. Bad idea. "Sasuke-kuunn!" came a cheery voice from the hallway. Sasuke swore under his breath and felt like kicking himself. No, not even that. Probably more like, he felt like killing himself. Twice.

A springy, young girl flung her arms around Sasuke. He was blinded by her bubblegum-pink hair as she hugged him. She clung onto as if she was hanging on for dear life. "Sasuke! I can't believe you're here!" she squealed. She planted a kiss on the male's cheek. Sasuke grimaced in disgust, but Sakura couldn't see it. Naruto could, though.

"Sakura," he said sternly, "I don't think that's how we should treat him. Especially he just woke up, and he was badly injured." Sasuke smiled as Naruto winked at him. Sasuke quickly grabbed his side and said, "Sakura, you might reopen the wound," Sasuke gasped. Sakura immediately let go. She placed her hand protectively atop of his on his side. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Sasuke nodded. "No big deal," he replied.

Sakura, with her hand still on Sasuke's, turned to Naruto. "Do you want me to reapply the bandages?" she asked.

Naruto shook his head. "Actually, I was about to do that myself," he responded. Sakura pouted. "Can I help?" she whined. Sasuke knew that she wanted to do more than put bandages on his body. He looked at Naruto, a semi-freaked out look on his face.

"Sakura, um, could you leave? Please." Naruto wasn't exactly happy, and it was taking a lot of patience for his voice to stay steady and some-what kind. Plus, Naruto was fed up with Sakura, First, she had ruined the moment; second, she was making it worse; and third, she was pissing both Sasuke and himself off. He wanted to yell '_Bitch, leave us alone!_', but couldn't.

Sakura turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke," she whispered, "I'll only leave if you agree to go out with me."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Sure," he promised.

"I'll meet you tomorrow afternoon, then! At my house!" she smiled. "And if you don't show up," she growled, "then you'll…" she bent over and whispered something into Sasuke's ear. He just nodded. His facial expression didn't change. Sakura pecked him on the cheek and turned to the door. She smiled as she passed Naruto. "Good night," she waved, and then walked out the door into the night.

The moment the door slammed shut, Sasuke's face flushed of all colors and he dropped to his knees. Naruto ran over and took him in his arms. "Sasuke, are you okay?" he asked in a concerned voice.

Sasuke shook his head. "I'm fine," he replied, weaker than he thought possible. But Naruto knew something was wrong still. "What did she say?" he asked quietly. Sasuke shoved himself out of Naruto's arms and fell back, his hair sprawled out on the floor. "I'm not ready for her," he replied.

Naruto lay down beside him and Naruto ran his fingers slowly through Sasuke's hair. "It's okay," he said softly. "I'll still be here when you get back."

"I know," Sasuke whispered. He turned to face Naruto, to place his hand on Naruto's warm cheek, "but I don't want to leave you."

Naruto smiled. "Don't worry," he said, "I'll be fine."

But somehow, Sasuke didn't think Naruto would be fine. Not at all.

- - -

**Yep, that was chapter 3. I'll try to get chapter 4 in sooner...**


	4. The Date

**A/N - Chapter 4 is up, and there's only one day of school left! That makes me feel great. Anyhoo, yes, this isn't a flashback chapter or anything. Nope, this is Sasuke and Sakura's date, whether you like it or not. But don't worry, this is totally a SasuNaru, not SasuSaku. Oh, and I'm sorry for not having Naruto a big role in this chapter. He should be big the next couple chapters.  
**

**Disclaimer - Naruto does not own me, and I do not own Naruto. The only time I own Naruto is when I'm beating a level 1 Naruto on Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 for Gamecube.**

--- June 18 ---

"Naruto!" snapped Sasuke. His nice, hot shower water had turned lukewarm. In seconds, Naruto opened the door and poked his head into the bathroom, causing Sasuke to jump back. "You idiot!" growled the wet Uchiha. "First you took up all the water, then you scare the hell out of me? What is wrong with you?"

Naruto just stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. "It's not my fault you're in a bad mood because you have to go out on a date with Sakura," shot back Naruto. Sasuke glared at Naruto while Naruto sneered at Sasuke. Finally, Sasuke asked coldly, "Could I finish my shower in peace?"

"Sorry," Naruto muttered, stepping out of the bathroom. He knew Sasuke was pissed, and he knew he wasn't helping things. He walked down the hall into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He pulled out the miso pork Sakura had given them the night before and placed it in the microwave. He didn't bother to set the timer or turn it on. Instead, he walked back to his room. The door was shut, so he knocked.

A quiet "Come in," came from Sasuke. Naruto opened the door slowly and shut it behind him. Sasuke was standing by the bed, struggling to get his Capris all the way on. They just wouldn't fit around his waist. He finally gave up. He turned to Naruto with his hands on his hips. "Could you help me?" he asked.

Naruto smiled and nodded. He walked over to Sasuke and tried to slowly pull the pants up. He felt uncomfortable for pulling Sasuke's pants up, but he did it anyway. He grunted when they wouldn't go up. "What did you do, gain pounds?" he laughed. Sasuke didn't find this funny. "You're aware that if I'm late, Sakura's- …" he stopped. He didn't want to repeat what Sakura would do to Naruto. He knew he couldn't. And he knew Naruto understood.

"I know," Naruto replied. Sasuke didn't have to say anything for Naruto to know. Sakura would do anything to Sasuke, no matter what. And every villager in Konoha knew that.

Naruto tugged the pants, and the slid up to where they were supposed to go: around his waist. Sasuke smiled. "Thanks," he said, buttoning them up, which wasn't easy. But they fit well. So, Sasuke grabbed his new Jounin vest off of Naruto's bed and zipped it on. To polish off his outfit, he tied his headband onto his forehead. He stepped over to the mirror and looked at his reflection. He stood there for a minute. "It's missing something…" he said to himself. Naruto walked over and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Like what?" he asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Who knows." Inward, though, he had gotten what he was missing as Naruto's body had reflected off the mirror with his own.

There was an awkward silence between the two boys. Sasuke leaned his head against the mirror. "I don't want to do this," he said. His stomach had been flip-flopping all day, flip-flopping and uneasy.

Naruto sighed. "I don't want you to go through this, either," he replied.

Sasuke sighed. "Hn. Why can't we go out on a date?" he wondered aloud. He felt Naruto's arms surround his chest and Naruto's body leaning against his, which made Sasuke's heart race. "We will soon enough," softly coaxed Naruto. His breath hit Sasuke's neck, sending a chill of pleasure down his spine. "Nar-u-to." He sounded the syllables out in his friend's name. "You're not helping," he said slowly.

Naruto immediately let go of Sasuke. "Sorry," he replied quietly. Sasuke smiled, turned to face Naruto, and ruffled his hair. "I love you too, okay?" he assured Naruto. "But I can't love you at the moment. It makes it harder to be with Sakura."

Naruto nodded with a small smile on his face. "Don't worry," Naruto replied. "I'll be okay." He quickly hugged Sasuke. "You should leave now," he said as he removed his arms from around the raven's chest. Sasuke nodded sadly. "But I don't leave you," he whispered. He pulled his body closer to Naruto's. He tilted Naruto's head so Naruto's beautiful eyes were piercing through Sasuke's dark blue orbs. Naruto stood on the tip of his toes and kissed Sasuke. It was a soft but deep kiss, not meant to last long. And that was the intention. He knew Sasuke didn't want to kiss that moment because of his so-called 'straight date', but Naruto knew Sasuke needed it. For support. And for comfort.

They both broke away from the kiss at the same moment. This caused Naruto to giggle. Not like a little girl, but to giggle. Sasuke chuckled. He ruffled Naruto's hair again. "I'll see you later," he promised. "And I will not let her do anything to me."

Naruto wrapped his arm around Sasuke's shoulder as they started walking to the door. "Be careful," Naruto said, opening the door for Sasuke. "You're at her house. Don't go into her bedroom," he warned Sasuke. Sasuke nodded and stepped out the door. He heard Naruto close it behind him as he walked out onto the street.

- - -

"You came!" Sakura squealed as she opened the door for her date. She almost immediately pounced on him, nuzzling her nose against his neck. Sasuke was trying to crane his neck from her, but it wasn't working. "Sakura, could you get off?" he asked politely. She let go of him instantly, backing away with a smile on her face.

She had changed. Sasuke didn't remember her like this last night. Or over the last few years. She was shorter than Naruto, but she was strong. Her pink hair reached all the way to her hips. Amazingly, and I say _amazingly_, her breasts had become bigger. But this wasn't important at the moment, since Sasuke was gay. That kind of thing disgusted him. She smelled slightly of ginger. Her perfect skin wasn't covered, except for the light-green eye shadow and the glittery pink lip gloss.

She had a light pink blouse. Placed on her hips was a dark green skirt that reached the middle of her calf. She was wearing open-toed sandals that weren't the normal blue ones. Instead, they were dark pink.

To most people, Sakura would have been the most beautiful person that they had ever seen in that moment. But to Sasuke, she wasn't, fore Sasuke was gay and didn't care about that kind of stuff.

"Sasuke, you can leave checking me out until tonight, okay?" she smiled. Sasuke's heart immediately skipped a couple of beats. Him? In the same bed as her? But he promised Naruto he would be back! His eye twitched.

"Let's go!" she chirped, grabbing his arm and pulling him out the door and into the sunlight, oblivious to the twitch of Sasuke's eye.

"Oh, I want ice cream!" Sakura announced, dragging Sasuke with her towards the ice cream shop. Sasuke didn't like being dragged, so he set a pace with her. He didn't care where they went or what they ate, as long as she did not get anywhere near his lips or any other part of his body he didn't consider "her's".

They were close to the mountain with the five hokages carved into it. It was the outskirts of town, and there was almost nobody around them. They had been lucky even to find the ice cream shop. "What flavor do you want?" asked Sakura. They were just a few paces away from the ice cream shop. Sasuke glared at his pink haired companion. "I don't enjoy sweets," he replied simply.

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. "How do you not like sweets?" Sakura asked, bewildered.

"The same way someone can love them," Sasuke answered. "I mean, it's like music. You could put some rap on, and I would totally hate it. But you still love it. It's taste. My taste is more rock for music. And as for food, I hate sugar. It's disgusting."

Sakura shot him a look of sympathy. "I'm sorry." Her apology was a little too high, but Sasuke didn't care. "Then, what do you want to eat?" she asked. Her eyes were soft. Sasuke hated that. Her eyes were of pity. Pity and asking to be forgiven. He hated whenever someone did that to him. That's one of the reasons he liked Naruto. He wasn't full of pity. He'd just laugh it off, like the dobe he was.

Sasuke closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. He slightly tilted his head back and replied, "I really don't care. As long as it's food and not sweetened."

Sakura nearly danced in delight. "Then let's go home," she smiled. Her excitement was clearly not contained. "I made us some rice balls and some miso sausage!" she exclaimed.

A smile played across Sasuke's lips. Miso sausage sounded good at the moment. And rice ball. They were one of the best foods that had passed his lips.

But Sakura took the smile the wrong way. "Sasuke," she whispered lovingly. Sasuke snapped his eyes open to see her looking at him, her eyes huge and filled with nothing but love. Oh god…

"Let's go," Sasuke said quickly. He turned abruptly and started walking away fast. He didn't want Sakura to look at him like that. Never. That look didn't suit him.

Sakura was pulled by Sasuke when he turned. She let go and just stood there, confused. But she quickly and unconsciously followed him and catching up wasn't hard. "Sasuke?" she asked. He slowed down into a walk as she pulled up next to him. "Why did you leave so fast? I mean, something's wrong. What is it?"

There was nothing to hide from Sakura. So, Sasuke stopped and looked at her. "If you really want to know, I'm not in the mood to bump into old rivals of mine," Sasuke said simply.

"Who?" persisted the pink haired female beside him.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Neji and Lee," Sasuke replied. He didn't know why we answering her question. If you asked him, he would say she's being too persistent and nosy.

"Lee!?" Sakura almost seemed scared of the name. Then, something popped into Sasuke's head. _"Sakura broke up with Lee the second she heard you were back,"_ said Naruto last night. Yep, that gossip had been helpful.

"Yeah, didn't you break up with him a few days ago?" Sasuke asked. God, what was wrong with him? He never asked questions. Especially not to Sakura.

Sakura just nodded. "But not for the reason you think," she abruptly said.

"What do you mean, 'not for the reason I think'?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke firmly and sternly. "You probably think I broke up with him because you came back," Sakura spat. "But I didn't'! I broke up with him because… because I didn't love him anymore. I fell in love with someone else."

"And it wasn't me? Then why aren't you dating him?" Sasuke inquired.

Sakura didn't answer Sasuke's question, so he didn't pursue with the question. They ended up walking back to Sakura's house in silence. The silence wasn't awkward on Sasuke's behalf. Actually, he was fine with it.

When they reached the steps, Sakura burst through the door with stored up energy. "Sasuke-kun, do you know how to cook?" she asked cheerfully.

Sasuke shook his head no. "Never have," he lied. Okay, so he was able to cook, but he didn't want to cook with Sakura. Unlike Naruto, Sakura was picky. If she didn't like the food, she would refuse to eat it, and that would be a waste. And besides, his cooking wasn't the best since he had gotten back from Orochimaru's yesterday morning.

"Oh well," Sakura sighed. She walked into the kitchen, followed by Sasuke, and opened the freezer. She pulled out some sausages and placed them on the counter. She then walked over to Sasuke and wrapped her arms around his neck, so she was looking at his face. "You can watch me cook," she suggested in a quiet but loving voice. Her words hit Sasuke square in the face.

To Sasuke's surprise, she didn't kiss him. This resulted in a shutter. It scared Sasuke to think that she'd like to kiss him, but it scared him more that she was saving it for later. She removed her arms from around him and walked back over to the food she was about to prepare.

Sasuke watched her move around the kitchen for about half an hour. He watched her form the rice balls, prepare the miso, and cook the sausage. She didn't try to start a conversation with Sasuke. She kept to herself.

"Sasuke, could you get the plates down?" she finally asked as she cut up some carrots for the salad they would be having. Sasuke didn't hesitate to do what she had told him to. He walked over to the cupboard and grabbed two plates from inside of it. He set them on the table in the next room. He then, without being told to, grabbed some chopsticks and put them by their plates. He also grabbed some cups. When he was finished, he asked, "Do you need help taking the food to the table?"

Sakura smiled. "Just the rice balls," she replied.

With the salad bowl in hand, Sakura set it on the table. She passed Sasuke, who was carrying the rice balls, and grabbed the sausages. She walked back to the table and placed them on. She sat down in her spot, and Sasuke sat down in his.

Sakura grabbed the tongs and placed some salad on her plate. She then passed the salad to Sasuke. As his hands brushed hers when he grabbed the bowl, she smiled at him. He tried to smile back, but wasn't successful. He tossed some salad on his plate and placed it on the table. He handed her a rice ball and said, "Want one?"

"Of course," Sakura blushed, taking it from him.

- - -

"Mmm," Sakura stretched. "That was a good dinner. Don't you agree, Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded. If there was one thing he liked about Sakura, it was her cooking. A smile played across his lips.

Her leaned back in his chair and looked out the window. It was dark out and the stars were shining bright tonight. The sky was also lit by a full moon that night. The perfect night, and it had to be spent with Sakura.

"Hey Sakura?" he started, but stopped. Sakura wasn't in the room anymore. Sasuke stood up and walked out into the hall. She wasn't there, either. And the door to her room was shut. Sasuke walked over and knocked on it.

"Come in," came Sakura's voice from the other side of the door. Sasuke slowly opened the door. "Sakura, it's about time I lea-," he stopped. Standing in front of him was Sakura in nothing but her bra and underwear. "Sasuke," she whispered.

If this wasn't the situation, Sasuke's eye would have been twitching. But she acted as if he wanted to make love to her. But he didn't. That was the problem.

"Sasuke?" She tilted her head in question. She saw him, ever so slowly, backing up. When his hand touched the doorknob, she almost disappeared.

Sasuke felt himself falling onto the bed. He struggled to get up, but he was securely pinned down. He saw Sakura standing over him. "Sasuke," she whispered lovingly, lustfully, "you will be mine." She pulled his Capris down in a second, so he was left in his shirt and underwear. Thankfully. But Sasuke panicked. He didn't know what to do. Sakura was strong, and she had used a technique to cut of his chakra.

Sakura unzipped Sasuke's Jounin vest. He felt a draft as his shirt was removed.

Now Sasuke was left in nothing but his underwear, and he sure as hell wasn't going to make bondage with Sakura. As she started for his underwear, wanting to know what was under there like a starving animal waiting for a steak, Sasuke kicked her in the stomach, making her pull back. She couldn't pin him down anymore.

Sasuke jumped up, grabbed his clothes, and ran. As he ran, he threw his shirt on backwards and didn't bother to zip up his vest as he placed it quickly on his shoulders. His pants slid up his legs, but wouldn't fit around his waist. He didn't care. There was no sound of Sakura pursuing him, so he opened the door and fled out into the night.


	5. The Plan

**Yay! It's the summer! But the bad news is, I can't update as much during the summer. I have camp to go to during the day, and when I get home, the computer is usually occupied. Plus, I'm going to go to Oregon for two weeks, so there won't be much updating. Sorry. I'll make up for it, I promise!**

**Okay, so I've been reading this really good story by VanityWantsYou called "Just Like Heroin". It's really long, but extremely good. I suggest you read it if you like SasuNaru stories.  
**

--- June 18: Konoha ---

Naruto heard the door slam shut, so he stepped out into the hallway. "Welcome back, Sasuke. How was your dat-…?" Sasuke had flung his body at Naruto, his sides shaking wildly. This took Naruto by surprise. He wasn't expecting Sasuke to act like this.

"S-she… she…" Sasuke stumbled over his words, trying both to and not to get the words out. He wanted Naruto to know what happened, but he didn't want to admit that he was weak for letting Sakura take advantage of him.

Naruto started rubbing Sasuke's back, trying to calm him. "Sasuke, it's okay. Just say it slow. Deep breaths," he murmured.

When Sasuke had finally stopped shaking, he pulled away from Naruto. "Sakura… She tried to… r-r-rap- … rape me." Naruto could barely hear the last two words, but when they were said, they hit him. Hard.

Naruto pulled Sasuke closer to him and put his arm around the Uchiha's shoulder. "Sasuke, are you all right?" he asked. His voice contained nothing but concern. Of course, who wouldn't be concerned if they're best friend tried to rape your other best friend. Or your boyfriend, for that matter.

Sasuke nodded. "I…" he didn't say anything else. He was about to say, _"I don't want you to leave me alone with her again. Don't ever leave me," _but he didn't. He wasn't going to say anything else.

"Shh, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Naruto whispered. He leaned his head on Sasuke's shoulder.

Tears started spilling out of Sasuke's eyes out of nowhere. "Naruto," he shakily whispered, "thanks for helping." Sasuke was glad for having Naruto there for him. He understood what most people didn't. He would just stand aside and accompany you without having to pursue the answer why you needed him. And that's exactly what Sasuke needed.

"Thank you," Sasuke whispered again.

--- June 19: Oto ---

The door creaked open, revealing a small, dark room. A large table was against the back wall, covered with beakers, test tubes, and other scientific equipment. Someone was standing over the table, carefully mixing a bright blue liquid with a creamy white substance.

The man didn't hesitate when someone walked into the room. His attention was concentrated on his experiment.

"Lord Orochimaru, I have come upon the subject of Uchiha Sasuke," the man said, stepping farther into the room. He pushed his large glasses against his face. He pulled a hair, loose from his single ponytail, behind his ear.

The man revealed as Orochimaru turned and faced the boy, putting his beakers down on the table. "Ahh, Sasuke," he breathed. "We haven't seen him around for a few days, have we?"

"He happened to be stolen from us from a certain Konoha shinobi named Uzumaki Naruto. The weird thing is, Sasuke's room is in the middle of our base, yet he was silently stolen by someone who's never been here before. Also, none of the people here detected him. No blood was spilt, nothing."

Orochimaru looked angry. "So it was the kitsune, correct. How can you prove this?"

Kabuto smirked. "He left behind a little souvenir," Kabuto said, holding out a folded piece of orange material. "It's his jacket. One of our men found it left beneath a tree."

Orochimaru chuckled. "So, this little kitsune thinks he can steal our little Uchiha?" Orochimaru turned and picked up his beakers again, showing them to Kabuto. "When these two chemicals mix, they make a compound that varies. If you put more of this in,"-Orochimaru held the beaker containing the bright blue liquid-"then the compound drains chakra at an alarming rate, sometimes resulting in death from loss of chakra. If you put more of this one,"-he held up the beaker with the creamy white substance-"then the compound paralyzes everyone in a certain radius. The radius depends on how much of the chemical you mix. But if you put equal amounts of both in, the compounds result in the victim falling dead. All we have to do is find out how."

Kabuto nodded, soaking in the information. "So we'll go after Sasuke as soon as we figure out how it kills?"

A dark smile played across Orochimaru's lips. "Precisely."

--- June 24: Konoha ---

Rain splattered on the windows in loud, heavy drops. Naruto's shoulders drooped. "Aww man! Today we were supposed to train!" he complained. "And Sasuke's not home yet!"

He plopped onto the couch. This was insanity. First, it was raining in the summer. Second, he was supposed to train today. And third, Sasuke wasn't even home. There was nothing to do without someone to occupy Naruto's time. He yawned and leaned back on the couch. Today was just a lazy day, so Naruto started to fall asleep.

The door knob twisted a few minutes later and Sasuke pushed the door open, swearing under his breath. He was soaked to the bone, and so was the bag and everything in it. The rain had started on his walk home from the store, getting their food for the week wet.

He took his shoes off and walked to the kitchen. He quickly put the food away and scurried to the master bathroom to get a towel and some dry clothes. He undressed, threw his wet clothes in the bathtub to dry, and dried himself with the towel. "Damn weather," he muttered to himself.

When he was dry, he grabbed the dry items of clothing and changed into them. A tight, crisp black shirt to show all of his muscles with the Uchiha symbol on his left shoulder, underwear, and some khaki shorts.

When he walked out of his room, it had occurred to him that he hadn't seen Naruto yet. He peeked into the game/TV room, but the blonde wasn't in there. Sasuke stepped into the entrance room and frowned. Naruto had fallen asleep on the couch underneath the window. That wasn't good. Naruto never fell asleep during the day unless he was sick or had collapsed from exhaustion. There was no way he could be exhausted, so he had to be sick.

Sasuke walked over to the blonde sprawled out on the couch and shook him softly. Naruto didn't wake up, so Sasuke shook him harder.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see Sasuke standing over him. He smiled tiredly. "You're finally home, teme." He didn't see the usual scowl on Sasuke's face. And his face wasn't expressionless, either. Naruto sat up. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Are you feeling okay?" Sasuke's voice held concern.

Naruto grinned a lopsided grin. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just bored. I mean, it's raining goats and sheep and there's nothing to do inside, especially when you're gone out shopping.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "Goats and sheep?" he repeated. "Don't you mean, 'cats and dogs'?"

Naruto shook his head violently. "Nope, goats and sheep. You see, goats and sheep are bigger than cats and dogs and its raining hella hard out there. But it's not hard enough for giraffes and elephants." His tone was teasing, and he erupted in laughter after he said this. "Just kidding," he laughed. Then he got a little more serious. "But not really."

Sasuke shook his head slowly, rubbing his temples. The obnoxious blonde was giving him a headache, as always. "Sometimes, I don't understand what you're talking about," Sasuke mumbled.

"Sometimes I don't understand myself," Naruto said, his voice serious, holding no joke or tease. He was staring at something against the wall, spaced out. He earned a confused yet concerned look from Sasuke. Naruto really wasn't acting himself today.

Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, breaking his stare from the wall. "Naruto, I think you should get some sleep," he suggested.

Naruto nodded. There was no sense in arguing with the Uchiha, since he was extremely tired. He stood up from the couch with the help of Sasuke and started down the hall towards his room, but he felt too tired. Sasuke noticed this and rushed to Naruto to help him walk steady and avoid falling. As they entered the room, Naruto's legs went limp under his body, causing him to collapse to the floor. Sasuke fell to his knees and helped Naruto up, but Naruto's body wasn't trying to get up. Naruto had blacked out on the floor at Sasuke's knees.

Sasuke rushed the blonde to the bed. He stripped him of his clothes, all but his boxers. He ran into the bathroom and picked up a wash-cloth and dampened it, and rushed back into the room to place it on Naruto's forehead.

Naruto opened his eyes when the cool towel was placed on his forehead. He groaned fore he was heating up. "So hot," he panted.

Sasuke placed his hand on top of the towel. "You have a fever," he said.

Naruto shook his head. "No. Fevers aren't this bad." He started coughing. His cough was ragged and shaky. He was panting and sweat littered his face when he finally stopped the cough.

- - -

**Yes, I've fit Orochimaru in this chapter. He'll be coming up soon. **

**Umm... If you review, I'll... I'll try to update before I leave for Oregon, so yeah... And I'll give you a cookie. Figuratively, though.**


	6. The Headache

**Yay! So I can fit another chapter before vacation! **

**Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter. I didn't want to post anything else. I didn't end this chapter well, either. Sorry...**

**Disclaimer - Yeah, I don't own Naruto. I think this is odvious, but I don't. Just getting it out, because I don't want to break the rules. It's in there, right?  
**

--- June 24: Konoha ---

Sakura took off her gloves and ran a finger down Naruto's cheek. "He's got an extremely bad fever that he's been putting off. He'll be okay if you can get some nice warm food down his system. If he starts throwing-up, that's expected. Just give him some of this," -she handed Sasuke a bottle full of pills-, "and he should stop shortly. Keep his area cool because his temperature's way up. He just fell asleep, so I suggest it remains quiet." She smiled at Sasuke. "He'll be fine in no time."

Sasuke nodded. "Is it contagious?" he asked, his voice holding almost no emotion. He didn't care if it affected him, but he wanted to be warned just in case it struck.

"It could be," Sakura replied, "so I'd be careful around Naruto. And please try not to get him active. That makes him worse."

"Yeah," Sasuke replied. Sakura knelt down and grabbed her equipment. She turned and headed out of the room, followed by Sasuke. They walked down the hall in silence to the front door. Sakura started to open it, but abruptly closed it. She turned to face the Uchiha. "Sasuke, I'm sorry. About what happened about a week ago. I just couldn't control myself. I mean, you've been gone for so long, and I just… freaked."

Sasuke nodded slowly, closing his eyes. "Sakura, it's okay. I forgive you. I understand completely," he lied. He forgave her, but in all honesty, he knew she could have restrained herself. Sakura smiled sadly. "Thanks," she whispered, before turning, opening the door, and walking out into the flood of droplets coming from outside. She closed the door with one hand as she grabbed her umbrella with the other.

Sasuke leaned against the door with his head in his hands. Damn he had a horrible headache. Rain always gave him headaches, and Naruto getting sick and Sakura weren't helping. He allowed himself to slide down to the floor. His knees were up and he folded his arms on top of them and put his forehead against them. His head ached as his mind spun.

Through the loud throbbing of his head, he heard his name being called in a low voice. Naruto.

He reluctantly stood up and started towards the master bedroom. When he reached it, he found Naruto asleep on the bed. He was stirring and kept muttering the raven's name.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he walked up to the bed. He climbed on and took Naruto up in his arms. He sat against the backboard with the blonde's head against his chest. He was curled up on Sasuke's lap.

Naruto stopped his restlessness, but he was still mumbling in his sleep. He mentioned Sasuke's name a few times, along with several other people's names, including Orochimaru, Kiba, Hinata, and someone named Hasuna.

Sasuke himself found himself very tired. His head was throbbing and he was getting drowsy in the atmosphere of the bedroom. He remembered Sakura's warning. _"It might be contagious,"_. It rang through Sasuke's head. But the Uchiha had no intention to move. _'So what if I catch it. I'm smart enough to know how to take care of myself when I'm sick.' _

Sasuke's mind was just starting to cloud with sleep when he heard a loud knock at the front door. He groaned, but he knew he had to answer it. He slowly and carefully lay Naruto back on the bed and got up. He made his way to the door, still drowsy.

He opened it to find the worst surprise of his life. A small, dark haired white eyed girl was standing at the door next to a much bigger burnette with two red arrows pointing down on his cheeks. The quiet, timid Hinata stood next to the loud, obnoxious Kiba. Acually, he had absolutely no problem with Hinata. But Kiba was almost as hyper as Naruto. Just what Sasuke needed: an even worse headache.

Kiba grinned at the Uchiha. "Hey, I heard you were back, but I didn't think it was true. Damn was I wrong." Kiba stepped uninvited into the house, earning a glare from Sasuke. "Anyhoo, how come you haven't said anything? Nobody knew you were back. You could've told your friends."

Sasuke glanced over at Hinata, who had stepped in and closed the door. She just stood there, looking down at the tiles, an embarrassed blush chalked across her face. Sasuke looked back to Kiba, who had settled on the couch near the window. He had a smug look on his face as brown eyes met obsidian. "So, is Naruto here?" he asked, slightly rolling the 'r' in Naruto's name.

The raven removed his eyes from the canine's and darted down the hall, but they reverted back to Kiba's. "Yeah, but he's not in the best condition, so I'll have to ask you to leave." His voice was strict, but it wasn't rude.

Kiba looked startled for a second, but let out a loud, hearty laugh. "You don't have to be so formal, Sasuke! You could have mauled us, killed us, yelled at us, even knocked us out and dragged us outside. Stop with the formality."

"Ano, Kiba. Don't be so rude," Hinata said from behind Sasuke in a quiet voice. Both of the men turned to Hinata, making her blush spread and turn darker. Sasuke was speechless, fore the girl had almost never talked when they were younger, but Kiba laughed again. "Hinata, you're so strict!" he whined.

Sasuke's head throbbed worse because Kiba's ringing laugh. "You're going to wake Naruto, you idiot!" he sneered. "Leave, please."

Kiba grinned at the angry Uchiha. "Okay, but tell him we stopped by." He turned around and, with his arm around Hinata's small shoulders, stepped back outside. Before either of the two could say anything, Sasuke slammed the door shut. Big mistake. His head started ringing.

He walked back to Naruto's room to see Naruto sitting up and looking at Sasuke. "You're supposed to be asleep," scowled Sasuke, still pissed from the male visitor.

Naruto looked a little surprised at Sasuke's anger. "Teme, don't be so angry. Kiba's just extremely excited right now."

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto. "So he woke you up? I'm gonna kill that dog." He hid no anger in his voice. The blonde looked at him, confused. "Sasuke, why're you so angry," he said, slurring the words. He was about to fall asleep again.

Sasuke tried to keep his voice down. "I'm annoyed," he snapped. "That damn Kiba. No wonder I left."

"Don't say that, teme," slurred the blonde again. He lay down on the bed and curled up with the blankets. "That makes me feel like shit."

Sasuke couldn't help but smile. He walked over to the bed and climbed on. Like last time, he sat against the backboard and pulled Naruto against his chest. The almost asleep blonde adjusted his position so he was comfortable, and fell asleep against the warm chest of Sasuke. A small 'thanks' escaped Naruto's lips as his breathing softened.

Sasuke was still feeling drowsy from earlier. His head was still throbbing like hell, but sleep would help calm it. With Naruto against his chest, Sasuke finally fell asleep.

--- June 24: Oto ---

Orochimaru barged into the room where Kabuto was busy working on a potion for an unknown reason to the Sannin.

The medical ninja turned to his lord. "Lord Orochimaru, what brings you here?" he asked, placing all his attention on Orochimaru.

A venomous smile crossed the snake sannin's lips. "Three days from now is a special day. On that day, I receive Sasuke's body."

Kabuto smirked. "Oh yeah. To repay for the strength he has earned, he promised you his body. And since his extension ends then, your body will be replaced. But without Sasuke here, you can't have his body."

Orochimaru nodded. "So we're going to go get our little Sasuke. Kabuto, get your stuff ready. We're leaving."

Kabuto nodded. "Yes, lord Orochimaru."

Orochimaru turned to leave, but Kabuto stopped him first. "Wait. I was wondering… have you figured out what the compound does? The effects?"

Orochimaru had the most malevolent smile. "Yes, I have." He chuckled. "When one has the chemicals placed upon them, the effect may be small, but powerful and effective." Kabuto smirked and listened intently. "The compound makes the victim die. But finding out how was a hard process. It makes you fall into a deep sleep, where all your deepest nightmares surface."

He paused to see Kabuto's reaction. Of course, he had only told Kabuto half of what the chemical compound did to one. Kabuto stared at him, half confused. "That's all?" he asked.

Orochimaru smirked. "That's the harmless half." Kabuto looked blankly at him, the words slowly forming in his head. A vicious smile played across his lips. "Harmless?" he inquired.

The sannin nodded. "The nightmares, no matter how scary, are the harmless part. While these nightmares are going on, the victim's brain is being eaten away. How fast depends on how much of the chemicals you use."

Kabuto nodded, soaking the information up. But he sopped and looked at the snake. "What happens if the person wakes up after a short time? I mean, if someone woke them up, what would happen to the victim? Are they missing part of their brain?"

Orochimaru thought about the question for a few seconds. "The damage done to their brain while they're asleep will never go away. So yes, they do miss part of their brain."

Kabuto smirked. "So we'll be using this in the battle?"

Orochimaru nodded. "I expect that you will use when the timing is right?" Kabuto nodded. "Am I not allowed to use it on Sasuke?"

"Only anyone who interferes," the snake replied. "The most effective person to use it on would be that troublesome kitsune, Uzumaki Naruto." Orochimaru left the room, leaving Kabuto to himself to get ready for their upcoming mission.

**---**

**Okay, I know for sure that I won't be able to update this one again before I leave...**

**I'm gonna feel so lonely and bored when I have nothing to do in Oregon and not be able to type this... Sorry. But I'll hurry with chapter seven if you review!!  
**


	7. The Battle

**I am incredably sorry for the long update! You see, I live in the ever-hot Las Vegas, where it reaches over 110 degrees in the summer, and we just got a pool in, so I've been spending a LOT of time in it.**

**But this chapter makes up for the long wait! And I am quite proud of it! It's my longest one yet **

**Disclaimer - ((Wow I haven't done this in a while...))** **I do not, nor will I ever own Naruto. Maybe Bleach, but never Naruto.**

--- June 27 ---

The wind had kicked up in a matter of minutes. About an hour ago, the sky had been a clear blue, without a sign of a cloud in the sky. Birds were chirping, cicadas were buzzing, and it was the perfect day. Now, large purple-grey clouds were starting to roll over-head. Every once in a while, in the distance, you could hear a quiet roll of thunder.

Sasuke grimaced at the sky as he leapt to a nearby tree. He knew it wasn't very smart to be around trees when a storm was coming, let alone be in one. He blamed it on Tsunade, for giving him the job to patrol Konoha's outside. "Yeah, like anyone's going to invade Konoha in this weather," sneered Sasuke to himself.

As soon as he said this, he felt the presence of someone else. Pulling out a kunai, he stood where he was, waiting. But what came through the branches and leaves wasn't an enemy or someone from another village. It was Naruto.

Sasuke slid the kunai into his pouch and stared at the blonde. "Find anyone?" he asked in an annoyed voice.

Naruto grinned and shook his head. "You know, I'll be damned if someone did attack on a day like this," he said, looking up at the sky.

Sasuke snorted and said, "Our shift is almost done. We shouldn't get too wet."

Naruto nodded slowly, his eyes still on the clouds. "I feel really bad for the shinobi who have the next shift. They'll probably get soaking wet, maybe even fried." He chucked at the last comment, but it didn't last.

He turned his attention towards Sasuke. "Let's go around once more and…"

Naruto stopped. He pulled out a kunai. Sasuke felt it, too, and did the same. He crept over to Naruto and whispered, "I'll go check what it is. Stay here until I give you a signal."

"What signal?" inquired Naruto. Sasuke shrugged. "You'll know."

And with that, he silently yet gracefully started jumping foreword. He froze, looked around, and noticed the clouds overhead where finally starting to spread farther across the sky. He was about to move but the wind kicked up, stronger than ever. Sasuke clutched the tree so he wouldn't fly off.

When it died down, Sasuke leapt off again. He landed on a branch and was about to jump off, but his body wouldn't respond. He dropped to his knees and out from the shadows emerged a person.

Sasuke snarled at the man. "What do you want with me, Orochimaru?"

Said person smirked as Kabuto followed him from the shadows. "I see you've got your dog with you," the raven sneered.

Kabuto seemed to take this offensively as he raised a kunai, but Orochimaru lowered the kunai. "Sasuke, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. So, are you going to give yourself up or are we going to have to force you to come?"

"What makes you think I want to come back?!" snapped Sasuke.

Orochimaru walked up to the Uchiha and knelt down so he was looking into obsidian eyes. Sasuke turned his head away, but Orochimaru yanked it back. "You see, it's getting incredibly close to a certain day. On this day, a certain person agreed to give me his body. And in order for me to obtain this body, the certain person needs to be around. Not hanging around with some little blonde twerp and his friends." Orochimaru's eyes narrowed in annoyance as Sasuke just stared back at him, half amused.

"You really came all this way to get me? And I thought Naruto was the idiot for getting me in the first place! But… If it's my body you want, it's my body you'll get," Sasuke smirked.

"You little punk!" growled Orochimaru. Sasuke, smirk planted across his face, had spit on Orochimaru's face to make him let go of the Uchiha's chin. Sasuke, having regained muscle control minutes before, had jumped up and started doing hand signs. He fit his thumb and index finger of his right hand into a circular shape and held it up to his mouth. He blew out towards Orochimaru and Kabuto, large balls of fire emerging from his mouth. He quickly aimed above his head and fired three fire balls flying through the tree-tops.

Somewhere, not far off in the forest…

Naruto looked up at the bright flames emerging from the trees. _'That must be the signal Sasuke was talking about! He must need me!' _Naruto quickly sped off towards the area where the signal was.

Somewhere, along the Konoha walls…

A man burst into a little room by the gates. "Sir!" he exclaimed to another man. The man turned to the unexpected guest. "There were several fire balls coming from the treetops not even half a mile from here!" breathlessly panted the man. "Ichi-sensei, it may be an intruder!"

The man, now know as Ichi, nodded slowly. "Who was the one who set off the alarm?" he asked coolly.

The first man shrugged. "Well, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto's shift ended a few minutes ago, and next to go are Kawashi Yuui and **Inokuma** Riiku. But the first two haven't come back yet."

Ichi nodded. "Thank you, Kisho. I'll send out a squad immediately to check it out." With that Kisho nodded and exited the room. As soon as the door shut, several ANBU Blackops arrived into the room. "Master Ichi, we heard the news. Are you in need of us?"

Ichi nodded. "An intruder was currently seen by either Uchiha Sasuke or Uzumaki Naruto. Nara, I want you to search for the Uchiha with the sand one," he announced. "As for you, Hyuga, search for Uzumaki with Inuzuka." All four ANBUs nodded and teleported out of the room.

Back to Sasuke and the sound intruders…

Sasuke was about to fall face-first into a branch, but another gust picked up and slammed him into a tree instead. He bent down to remove a kunai from his thigh. Blood spurted out from where the kunai had made a deep cut.

Another kunai came from Kabuto and hit him in the shoulder. Sasuke cried out in the sudden pain and clutched his shoulder. _'How much longer is this going to go on? I need help!'_ he exclaimed silently.

Suddenly, he felt something wrap around his body. A giant snake had wrapped itself around his knees and was climbing up. The Uchiha tried to punch it, but it didn't do much to the beast.

In a matter of seconds, the snake had wrapped Sasuke up to the shoulder with it's body. He wiggled to try to get free, but to no use. He could feel the snake squeezing the life out of him as he gasped for more air. "If only I could reach… my sword…" he panted. His sword had landed just inches from his feet.

The snake squeezed, tighter than before. It had taken all the air out of the raven's lungs as he desperately and painfully gasped for more. He closed his eyes since his eyesight had begun to grow blurry. _'Two more squeezes and I'm dead!'_

The snake tightened again, and tears burst out of Sasuke's eyes as he lost his air, once again. But when the snake loosened, it didn't just loosen. It came off, almost like someone had cut it in half.

Sasuke fell to his knees and opened his eyes. In front of him was Naruto, holding the sword that had once been at Sasuke's feet. He ran up to the raven helped him up. "Sasuke, are you okay? I saw your signal!"

Sasuke smiled weakly at Naruto as he grasped the handle of the sword. Naruto immediately let go of the weapon as Sasuke used it for support to get up. Once he was standing, he was wobbly and his breath was coming out in short, shaky breaths. "Thanks dobe," he replied faintly.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but what came out wasn't his voice. "Naruto, welcome! I've heard you were the one to steal our little Sasuke from us. And without being detected, no less. You truly are and extraordinary ninja. But alas, it is time for the Uchiha to come back where he belongs." Orochimaru had reappeared from the shadows with Kabuto. "Poor Sasuke. He has no strength to fight back anymore. But then again," the Sannin sighed, "You'll probably put up a fight."

Naruto growled. "The hell I will! I'll never allow you to take Sasuke. Never again!" swore the blonde. Sasuke whispered the word dobe, but Naruto didn't seem to catch it. "I made a promise. And I never go back on my word! That is _my_ way of the ninja! And I promise that I will not lose!"

Orochimaru chuckled. "Silly little boy. You really think you can defeat me? And save your pretty little Sasuke? Well you won't. Kabuto, I leave him to you."

Kabuto nodded, smirking, as he pulled a kunai and a bottle full of orange liquid out of his weapons pouch. He held up the orange liquid and smirked. "You had better watch yourself, Naruto. One drop of this in your system and you might not be hanging around Konoha anymore. You see, this potion slowly eats away at your brain, killing you." He dunked his kunai into the orange liquid, pulling it out coated in a light layer of the substance.

He slipped the bottle back into his kunai pouch and charged at Naruto. Naruto quickly pulled out a kunai and jumped away. Kabuto jumped after him, and the two's kunai clashed in the air above Sasuke and Orochimaru.

Though he was catching his breath and trying to calm his shaking body, Sasuke had an eye on the Sannin. _'He might just take this chance to get me now,' _thought the Uchiha.

Naruto had just avoided the liquid-coated kunai by inches. _'His accuracy is getting better. Much better,' _observed the blonde as jumped away from the medical ninja's attacks and landed on a tree branch.

Kabuto grinned as he pulled out three more kunai, all coated in the orange liquid. He threw them all at Naruto. Naruto looked around quickly to find that he was surrounded. He couldn't jump up or to his sides. He reached into his kunai pouch, but was out of weapons. He looked toward the kunai with a frightened look on his face as they sped toward him. As they came inches in front of him, his frightened look turned to a smirk as he brought both feet up, landing on his back on the ground. But the kunai turned direction and entered his body in four different places.

"Naruto!" Sasuke screamed, gaping. The blonde had been hit. He had been hit, by Kabuto's poisoned kunai! Sasuke clenched his teeth in anger and, without thinking, pushed his hand into HIS kunai pouch and threw several shuriken at the white-haired fiend.

Kabuto turned and just barely avoided Sasuke's attack by jumping. He had a smirk on his face and was about to say something, but instead he fell back to the ground, blood running down the back of his legs.

Behind him stood Naruto on a branch, grinning. Kabuto painfully pulled out several kunai and a shuriken from his back, tossing them to the ground. "How did you… How did you get away? That was a direct hit!" Kabuto snarled.

"That," Naruto grinned, "was one of the first jutsu techniques we learned. It's the substitution technique. It's sad to see a ninja of your standards falling for it."

Kabuto growled at Naruto, and pulled out yet another poisoned kunai. He jumped at the blonde and started assaulting him, but Naruto was blocking with his own kunai.

From below, Sasuke was smiling. "Naruto, you're such a dobe," he muttered to himself. "But you're my dobe."

Orochimaru smirked as he heard the words coming out of Sasuke's mouth. "You know it won't last," he mused.

Sasuke whipped his head around to the Sannin, scowling at him. "What would you know?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "Sasuke, you're so smart. But you're not very observant on feelings. Did it ever occur to you that if you were to die, or to leave again, he would just probably start another relationship with someone else? Plus, it wouldn't be another man. Sure, he'd wait a few months, but what's telling you that he doesn't have feelings for the pink-haired girly?"

Sasuke sneered at Orochimaru. "You don't know anything, so stay out of our business," snarled the raven. He didn't want to believe what Orochimaru had said, but he couldn't help the doubt forming in the back of his mind.

Naruto was avoiding Kabuto's poisonous weapon when something wet splattered on his nose. He looked up for a split second to see rain falling lightly from the sky. A huge flash of light lit everything around, followed by the rumbling of thunder.

Kabuto threw two kunai at the blonde again, but Naruto jumped away. Kabuto smirked. "My kunai follow chakra, you idiot. Running does no good." The kunai swerved in the direction Naruto had jumped. The blonde landed on a branch, and when the kunai were within three feet of him, his foot slipped, but he caught himself and was standing upside-down on the branch. The kunai followed, as he had expected. So he broke the chakra in his feet and fell to the ground. He turned himself upright so he would land on his feet, and touched ground safely. The kunai followed again and he started jumping. As the kunai neared him, he hit one away with a broken branch, but missed the second one. He continued to leap away, looking for another branch, but he slipped and fell in the process.

Naruto was about to stand up when another bolt of lightning came and got one of the tree branches above him. A huge branch was about to fall on top of him, but he rolled to dodge it. But a smaller, but still heavy, branch fell and landed on Naruto's legs, trapping him. The kunai had crashed into the first tree limb, but Kabuto smirked and fired another one. This one came faster than the other two and was directed straight at Naruto.

Naruto tried to get away, but he couldn't. The branch was too heavy and was crushing his legs. All he could do was wait for the kunai to get him.

Naruto cringed as he heard the thuds the kunai made into skin. But Naruto didn't feel anything. He looked up to see Sasuke standing over him, breathing hard. The kunai had gotten him in the middle of the chest. He slowly turned his head to Naruto and muttered, "Dobe. You would be the one… to get stuck at a time like this." He was panting hard, but his chest stopped cleaving up and down as he toppled face-first to the ground far below the treetops.

Naruto, through clenched teeth, fought his way out from under the branch. He didn't waste a moment once he was free. He ran to the bottom of the branch so he was upside-down and this time, he dived for the ground, pushing off the branch for speed.

He caught Sasuke about half way to the ground and straightened himself out so he would land on his feet. He landed on his feet, but fell foreword since his legs were weak from being crushed. He crawled over to Sasuke, who had fallen a few feet away from the blonde. His breathing was shallow and he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I'm sorry… Dobe…" he wheezed. Naruto shook his head violently. "Sasuke, you have nothing to be sorry about!" he exclaimed, tears springing from his eyes.

Sasuke tried to shake his head. "I do," he whispered softly. "I'm sorry… for… not helping… at all… I've never been anything to you… but trouble… Ruining your life… Being better… everything." With that, he shut his eyes and fell into his deep sleep, not expecting the nightmares coming.

Naruto shook Sasuke, trying to wake him. But it was no use. Naruto clenched his teeth in anger as red chakra surrounded him. "You bastards!" he roared. "You came all this way for him, and now he's going to die!" He jumped into the tree, charging his Rasengan on the way up.

He leapt up to find Kabuto still standing on the branch he had been perched on for the last few minutes, staring blankly and surprised at where Sasuke had been standing when the kunai entered him. Naruto jumped at him and caught him off-guard with his jutsu. He fell back off the branch to the ground, but not before hitting himself on a few limbs on the way down. Naruto brewed up another Rasengan as he turned to Orochimaru.

The rain had begun to pour down by the bucket-full. Both the Sannin and blonde were soaking wet. A flash of lightning lit up the area and Orochimaru saw Naruto in his fox form with the fourth Hokage's jutsu. He tried to leap away, but Naruto was faster. He ran the jutsu into Orochimaru's gut and held it there for a few seconds at lightning speed.

Orochimaru spit out some blood as the Naruto removed his swirling ball from the Sannin's stomach. "That's what you get for what you and Kabuto did to Sasuke!" he sneered as Orochimaru fell back, but not off the branch.

Naruto went back to normal as he jumped down back to Sasuke. He picked the raven up carefully and tried to run to Konoha, but his legs were still a little weak, slowing him.

As luck would have it, four ANBU landed in front of Naruto. He recognized them all at once. "Take him to the hospital," demanded the tired blonde. Shikamaru and Temari nodded, taking the body and teleporting way to the hospital. Hinata and Kiba stayed with Naruto.

"What happened?" asked Hinata in a concerned voice. Naruto shook his head slowly and panted, "Later," before falling unconscious in front of the two.

**- - -**

**Please review! I'll give you a free poisonous kunai! You could use it on just about anyone ((Haha, just kidding, but please review!))**


	8. The Discovery

**Yay! The school year is back up this week ((Actually, I don't know whether to be happy or sad...)) But that means more time to type. Anyhoo, this chapter is a complete surprise, even to me. I had something totally different planned, but it came out this way. So read**

**Disclaimer - I finally own Naruto! Bwhahahahahahahahahaha! Next on my list is Bleach, then Inuyasha, then, the world! Haha, just kidding. But I can dream...**

--- July 1 ---

Sasuke lay perfectly still. He was awake, but he couldn't force his eyes open. Everything was silent around him. One thought popped into his head: _I'm dead!_ He slowly forced his eyes open, and at first all he could see was white. _Yep, this is death, _he thought confidently. But he shivered. He didn't want to be dead.

When his eyes adjusted, he was staring at an ugly yellow wall. Light flooded onto the lumpy bed he was laying on from the window next to his bed. He struggled to sit up, but his shoulder screamed in pain, making him lay back down.

Sighing, Sasuke turned to the window to look out it. It was bright and sunny, and the air was full of the sounds of chirping birds and buzzing cicadas. His window was facing the Hokage Mountain, littered with the five gigantic heads of the past and present Hokage.

Being careful not to bother the hurt shoulder, Sasuke slowly and carefully got up from the bed and walked to the window. He leaned out it, the elbow of the unhurt arm on the sill. His hurt arm hung loosely by his side. He balanced his chin on the back of his hand, staring out the window with a smug look on his face.

A warm breeze swept into his room, his hair blowing with it.

"Ah, Sasuke, you're up."

Kakashi had walked into the room, his eye lying on his student. Sasuke didn't turn around. "You know, I forgot how beautiful it was here," he said, mainly to himself, still looking at the scene.

Kakashi walked up to him and looked out over the raven's head. "Mmm, it's been nicer," Kakashi hummed.

They both stared out the window in silence for the next couple of minutes. Kakashi broke the silence by letting out a much needed sigh and turned around. "I'll report to the Hokage that you're awake," he said, back still turned, walking toward the door.

When Kakashi was gone, Sasuke whipped around. He quickly changed into more comfortable clothes, consisting of a white long-sleeved shirt, a tight black one over it, and a pair of black shorts. The white shirt was poking out from underneath the black one on the bottom.

He grabbed his sword, and threw it out the window onto the roof about two feet below. He was just about to tie his badly-scratched headband to his forehead when Tsunade walked in.

She stared at him, all ready to leave, and frowned. "Sasuke, you are not to leave here anytime soon." Sasuke glared up at her temporarily, but fixed his gaze on the window.

"Hokage-sama, I have some questions I think you should answer," he stated, his eyes falling upon the mountain in the distance. "How did you reverse the poison?"

Tsunade smirked. "One of the kunai that impaled you still had some of the poison on it, and that gave us the upper hand, allowing us to reverse the potion."

Sasuke nodded. "How did I get back?" His voice wasn't curious, it was demanding.

"Temari and Shikamaru," Tsunade answered.

Another nod came from the Uchiha. His head turned from the window to look up at her fully. "Where is Naruto?" The three words came out quietly, but his obsidian eyes burned into her amber eyes.

Tsunade opened her mouth to speak, but Sasuke wasn't finished. "And what happened to Orochimaru and Kabuto?" His voice was louder this time.

The Hokage stared in confusion at Sasuke. "Sasuke, Naruto's at his house, unhurt. And Orochimaru and Kabuto weren't there."

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger. "Hokage, Naruto _was _there. His legs got crushed by a tree branch. Kabuto was the one who made the poison. He also injured my shoulder." He was shouting now, enraged. The Hokage, as smart as she was, was dumb enough to not believe Sasuke.

She glared at Sasuke. "Uchiha, you must have been dreaming or hallucinating. Naruto is home fine, and Oro-," Sasuke didn't stick around for the rest. He jumped out the window, grabbed his sword, and bound away to the house.

When he reached his destination, Tsunade was on his tail. Sasuke ran as fast as he could up the front steps, through the gate, past the huge lawn, and finally to the front door. He tried to open it, but it was locked. He then hopped through the side garden to the other side of the house, past two huge trees holding a hammock, several plastic flamingos, and finally up the back porch. He tried the sliding glass door, but it was also locked. He looked up to a window on the second story, the window to the guest bedroom. He jumped to it as the Hokage met him at the back door. He tried to open it, and it didn't budge.

Sasuke, frantic, angry, and terrified, kicked the window. The glass shattered into the room, cutting his foot as it all fell, creating a gap big enough for him to fit through.

He emerged into the room. He ran out of the room, down a flight of stairs, and into the music room. He opened the sliding glass door for the Hokage, and she stepped in. "Sasuke, I'm infuriated because you broke into someone's house. Now, let's get this over with."

Sasuke was about to argue with her, but kept his mouth shut as they split up. Tsunade took the upstairs while Sasuke searched the first floor. To his dismay, neither of the two found Naruto when they met up again. "Hokage-sama, Naruto hasn't been here since we were attacked," Sasuke choked out. He led her into the dining room, where the dishes of their lunch had been laid out.

They both understood why. Naruto, in the past eleven years, had grown more mature, meaning he cleans up after himself and is mannerly.

Tsunade had a look of horror on her face. She quickly masked it, and turned to Sasuke. "Tell me exactly what happened," she demanded.

Sasuke nodded, and explained what had happened four days prior.

When the raven was done, Tsunade didn't speak for a length of time. Her eyes were closed, concentrating. When she finally opened them, she gasped in horror. "Sasuke, do you have a clue on what they're going to him?"

Sasuke nodded solemnly. "They came to get me, because I was supposed to give my body to Orochimaru. I think he's going to take Naruto's instead…" Sasuke trailed off, his breathing more shallow than ever.

Tsunade closed her eyes for longer than a standard blink. "Orochimaru is after Kyuubi, the demon inside Naruto. He'll probably take over his body, Kyuubi and all, so he could be more powerful than even your body," Tsunade predicted.

She turned to Sasuke. "We've got to act fast. Round up Neji, Shikamaru, Temari, Ino, and Kiba," she announced. But she flinched, and shook her head. "Kiba's in the hospital. Never mind about him. Get Sakura instead. She would be there in case anyone is poisoned or hurt."

Sasuke nodded, reluctantly, and sped out of the house through the back door.

About a half-hour later, by Konoha's front gate…

Sasuke and Tsunade were at the front gate, alone, waiting for the rest of the group. Sasuke was impatiently tapping his foot on the ground, arms folded across his chest. His shoulder wasn't bothering him as much as it had been earlier.

Suddenly, five shinobi teleported in front of the Hokage and the Uchiha. Shikamaru, who was the only one carrying a backpack, looked bored. Temari was glaring at him, while Neji glared at Sasuke. Sakura was grinning at Sasuke, while Ino just smiled, happy to see him again.

"So, why exactly do you need us, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru asked, his voice opposite of curious. Tsunade exchanged glances with Sasuke and nodded. Sasuke looked at the group and said, "Naruto is missing, and we think he's with Orochimaru."

Neji narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be the one with Orochimaru? Why didn't he get you instead?" Neji snarled.

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort back, but was interrupted. "It was Orochimaru. He attacked us and took Naruto while he was unconscious. Sasuke had already gone to the hospital with Shikamaru and Temari," Kiba growled. The shinobi had come out of nowhere, looking normal except for the fact that there were bandages wrapped around his stomach.

Everyone but Tsunade was taken back by Kiba's appearance. She cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "You have all been selected for a reason. Neji and Kiba, you are to track down Naruto's trail. Shikamaru, you are here because you're the best leader. Temari, you're the only one who can keep him in-line. Sakura, you're needed for your medical experience, Ino, for your strength, and Sasuke, for knowledge of Orochimaru's weaknesses and hideaways. Now, do this as fast as you can. You have to get Naruto by July twenty-third, or else he will be beyond retrievable."

The six shinobi who had just learned why they had been selected were appalled. With this news about the loudmouthed blonde, they all knew that they had to go through this. Naruto was one of the strongest ninja in Konoha, let alone the most courageous and selfless.

Shikamaru was the first to break the dismayed silence. "We should leave now. This is a mission where no time should be wasted," he announced. "Kiba and Neji, we need you two to start looking. Sasuke, you need to show us where you fought. Then, we need you to guide us to Orochimaru's hide-out."

The three followed their orders, Sasuke in the lead. They quickly leapt off into the trees.

They arrived in the area in a matter of minutes. Kiba immediately started sniffing around with Akamaru while Neji used his Byakugan to search around for any trace of the blonde.

They both reported back to Shikamaru with the same information: The only traces of Naruto were gone. The rain had washed out any clues.

Without any clues of where they went, Sasuke lead the search party to find the blonde that meant so much to them.


	9. The Finding

**Eheh heh heh... Sorry it took me so long ::sweatdrop:: I couldn't do it for about a month because my dad was home, and I don't type this with him around. He may not 'approve of it'. Anyhoo, I have also been weighed down by school work and projects.**

**Anyhoo, I had something really BIG planned for this chapter, where Naruto was found wandering into the camp, wounded and almost dead, but I decided against it ((Sorry)). But this chapter is still good. And the next chapter will be longer and much better, so please don't fret.**

--- July 6 ---

The group had been following Sasuke's directions to Orochimaru's hideout for five days. So far, they hadn't been successful, but today, they found something: a sound village headband.

"I wouldn't guarantee you anything, but I suppose this means we're getting closer," Shikamaru announced to the group, holding up the headband. He knew the group was getting exhausted, and their hopes were dropping by the hour, since they had yet to find Naruto, but this was their first find, their first clue that they were going the right way. _'I just hope he'll be okay,' _he added silently to himself.

"Neji, Sasuke, and Sakura, you guys scout around, and look for other traces. We'll set up camp," Shikamaru ordered. The three ninja set off immediately.

Sasuke rushed through the forest around the, looking for something. Anything. _'Please let there be something,'_ he pleaded. Currently, he was scouting the ground, looking for items. He didn't bother to look up.

He stopped, and knelt down. He ran his fingers through some red-stained grass on the ground. "Something went on here," he mumbled to himself. He froze, and a shiver ran down his spine. Something dripped on his nose. It was wet and a deep red color. He jumped back, kunai at the ready, and looked up. Above him was a dead ninja, hanging on a branch that had just been over his head.

He jumped up to investigate. The ninja, a chuunin, at his guess, was dead. His dark brown hair hung loosely over his face, and his dark-orange eyes had a frightened look on them. _'He was slashed,'_ Sasuke noticed. The guy's headband was that of the sound, and Sasuke sighed. He put his hands on the ninja's face and closed his eyelids. He usually wasn't that nice, he felt like it should have been done.

He jumped back down and continued searching. He found several more dead Sound ninja, all slashed. _'I wonder who's doing this.' _Sasuke was growing more aggravated and anxious. The suspense was harsh, and one question was killing him: _'Was it Naruto?'_

Suddenly, he felt the presence of another ninja. He ran towards it, but it turned out to be Sakura. "Sasuke, this is weird." Neji was following behind her silently. "Have you seen all the dead bodies?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, I have. They were all slashed, by the looks of it," he pointed out. Sakura nodded. "They were intentionally killed, but by who?"

"I'm going to report this to Shikamaru. You two keep looking around," spoke Neji. This took both Sasuke and Sakura by surprise, but they both just nodded. With that, Neji ran off towards camp.

With Neji gone, Sakura lowered her voice. "Do you think it's Naruto?" she questioned. Sasuke closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not sure," he replied with a sigh. "Let's keep looking."

Sakura nodded, and this time, the two stayed in each other's sight. "Here's another body," Sakura announced. "There's three more over here," Sasuke observed. "We're probably getting closer to the source of the killings."

"Or these guy's camp," Sakura added, nudging a dead ninja with her foot.

They continued on, keeping track of the number of dead ninjas. All of them were sound, and none of them were women. So far, no survivors were found. "Sasuke!" exclaimed Sakura. "There's one alive!" she shouted. Sasuke rushed to her side, and there was a ninja standing up among the other dead ones, and blood was pouring down his arm. Sakura was about to race out and help him, but Sasuke held her back.

"Conceal your chakra," he hissed into her ear. She did as he said, but she didn't know why. She knew he had done so, since she couldn't sense his presence.

They were separated from the other ninja by bushes. Sasuke dropped to the ground and tugged on Sakura's arm so she would do the same. She obeyed the physical command, and lay on the grass. The other ninja stumbled out into an open space, clear of trees and bodies. "Help," he croaked.

In a sudden movement, something shot out and hit the man in the neck. Both Sasuke and Sakura could hear the 'thuck' of the kunai hitting his neck, and the snap the followed. The man dropped to the side opposite of the way the kunai flew out.

Sakura let out a squeak, but Sasuke was focused on the direction the kunai came from. Silently, he almost glided across the ground in the direction of the throw, covered by brush.

The Uchiha caught a glimpse of the killer. It was male, and tall. Sasuke couldn't tell the length, but he had blonde hair. Sasuke's heart leapt, and Naruto rushed into his head, but Sasuke knew it couldn't be. This man had a huge concentration of chakra, unlike Naruto. Also, there was something demonic about the chakra, glowing red.

Normally, Sasuke would have recognized this about Naruto, but since he lost a part of his memory, he lost two important factors about Naruto: some of the former memories of his years in Konoha spent with the blonde and Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox stored inside him.

The man stopped and faced Sasuke, even though his chakra was concealed and hidden. "Another survivor?" he growled.

Sakura appeared out of nowhere, standing behind Sasuke. She was in full-view of the blonde. "Naruto! It's me, Sakura!" she exclaimed. Sasuke looked at her, shocked, then back to Naruto. _'Is this really… Naruto? His power… It's so… great! It's beyond Naruto's chakra! Hell, it's beyond almost everyone's power!' _Sasuke sat up to get a better look.

The blonde turned to Sakura, and Sasuke finally saw him: the whisker marks were enhanced, the fangs, the red-chakra, the dark-red slit-eyes, the sharp claws. This wasn't Naruto, this was a monster.

Naruto squinted at Sakura for a second, but slowly, everything was changing. His claws were getting smaller, his fangs shrunk, and his eyes flashed back to normal. His jacket had unzipped, and his black shirt was showing, hanging loosely across his chest and stomach. He looked exhausted, but had a grin on his face. "Hey Sakura! Good to see you!" He stepped out to meet Sakura, but stopped once he saw Sasuke, staring back at him. The blonde froze in place, and his breathing quickened. "S-Sasuke?" he asked.

Sasuke smiled at Naruto and nodded. "Of course, dobe. Who else would it be?"

The next thing Sasuke knew, Naruto had jumped on him, knocked him to the ground, and caught him in a death-grip. "You're alive! I thought you would have died back there! I was sure… and now you're here!" Sasuke noticed almost immediately that the blonde had tears in his eyes. He pulled away and looked sternly at the raven. "That's twice you've scared me senseless! Twice that you've left me worrying! Twice, Sasuke!" he said, authority filling his voice. His smile evaporated the anger. He was just happy that Sasuke was alive. "You don't have to be such a fucking teme!" he added, polishing his smile into a grin.

"Naruto," Sakura said sternly. "First, get off of Sasuke. You're going to crush him." Naruto stood up immediately, extending his hand out. Sasuke took it and Naruto pulled him up. Sakura smiled. "Good. Next, we need to get you back to camp. You look exhausted!"

Sasuke looked closer at Naruto. He _did _look exhausted. He was barely supporting himself, and his breathing was heavy. Naruto obviously missed this fact. "I'm not that tired. Just a little, you know, out of breath."

"You mean, 'out of breath and chakra'," Sasuke input. He received a glare from Naruto and an appreciated smile from Sakura. "Come," he said, ignoring both, "we really should get back to camp. Sakura, tell the others we'll be there soon."

She nodded and ran off. Sasuke, on the other hand, pulled something out of his pocket. "Here," he offered. Naruto took it and grinned. "Water, teme? I don't know, it looks like yours to me…"

"Just drink it," Sasuke snapped. "It'll re-energize you. Tsunade-sama wanted me to give it to you if we found you. She said it'll help, but I don't remember how."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at the raven. "You? Forgetting? That's unusual," he remarked. "Is it a side-effect of the poison?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Who knows. Why don't you ask the ones who made it?"

Naruto grinned. "You can't! They're dead," he chirped.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "So, you were mad enough to kill them? That's unusual," he said, stealing exactly what Naruto had just said.

Naruto flinched. "I didn't mean to kill them," he whispered. "They were with Orochimaru and tried to extract Kyuubi out of me. Since he couldn't have your body, he'd steal my source of supreme power, or the demon trapped inside of me. So, Kyuubi went mad and took control, killing Orochimaru, but he wasn't satisfied, so he started killing the others. I can't remember what went on."

Sasuke put his arm around Naruto's shoulders encouragingly. "It's okay, dobe. They were attacking you, and you had to defend yourself, plus –," he started, but Naruto cut him off. "Defend myself! I wasn't even in control of myself!" he roared. He sighed, trying to calm himself.

"We've all done horrible things," Sasuke said. He leaned his head on Naruto's shoulder. "It's only human nature. We can't help it."

"But we can try and stop it from happening," Naruto growled.

Sasuke lifted his head off Naruto's shoulder and started walking. "Come on, dobe. We're not going to reach camp if you're never going to move," he said. Naruto nodded and was about to take a step, but he collapsed and fell to the ground.

Sasuke barely caught him before he hit the ground. The blonde had fainted. "I told you you were exhausted," he mumbled to himself.


	10. The Prophecy

**Oh my gosh, I got it up! Yay! It's taken me forever, since I haven't had much time. Orchestra, homework, high school applications, it gets me weighed down. Then I tried to get it up for days, but it said that it was an invalid action. And then, I had to fly down to Oregon because my cousin died and we needed to attend the funeral. (From Las Vegas to Portland, it wasn't that fun. Then I got sick) But I'm here now, updating it. **

- - - July 9: Somewhere in a forest nowhere near Konoha - - -

Sasuke emerged into the make-shift camp that had recently been set up carrying a little wooden bucket full of water. He went straight to the tent that had Naruto in it and he unzipped the zipper.

He stepped in to find Sakura kneeling down over Naruto, who was currently sleeping, with her hands on his chest. Her hands were surrounded with chakra, pushing hers into his system.

Sasuke silently set the water bucket on the floor and turned around, facing the exit of the tent. "How is he?" he asked the salmon-haired Kunoichi. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, and he asked in a fashion that he would have used everyday when he was younger, a genin again.

"He's fine, and he's regaining chakra fast. But…" she trailed off.

Sasuke didn't need to look back over his shoulder to tell that she was crying. "But what?" he pressed. He wouldn't go unanswered. And he was starting to have a hard time understanding her.

Sakura looked at the Uchiha sadly. "Naruto's always been the type to bounce back after a good night's worth of rest. It's been three days now, Sasuke. He should be awake." Sea Green eyes were overflowing with tears as she said this. Sasuke paused and closed his eyes, trying to figure out what to say. And, as always, helpful words popped into his mouth.

"Sakura," he said, adding no expression to his voice in the process, "he'll be fine. You must keep in mind that he's gone through a lot of both physical and mental pressure during the past few days. When he does wake up, he'll be back to normal. So don't get so emotional about it." Sasuke started walking. When he was halfway out of the tent, he whispered to himself, "You don't have to suffer as much as I do. I'm having a hard time remembering him."

Sasuke walked over to the middle of camp where the fireplace was. There was no fire, just a little bit of charcoal and an ember that kept grey smoke rising. No one was around, and Sasuke was thankful for this. He wasn't treated the same since he had come out of the blue. Only Sakura, Kiba, and Ino treated him the same. Plus, he needed some time alone; to ponder and try to collect what memories he has left over after the accident.

The accident. That's a good place to start. What parts of the accident did Sasuke remember? He remembers getting hit by the kunai in order to protect Naruto. He also remembers Orochimaru and … the other guy, with the silver hair and glasses. "Ugh!" groaned Sasuke to himself. The raven had lost the name of the glasses wearing guy.

"What's 'ugh'?" asked a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Kiba standing behind him, a crooked grin on his face. He stepped over to Sasuke and sat down on a large rock.

So much for privacy. "Nothing really," he shot. He suddenly seemed very interested in the single ember that kept the smoke alive. He really wasn't, he was just using it to be boring and maybe get the company away from him.

Kiba stared into the fire, and smiled. "It's funny, isn't it? How such a small ember," Kiba said, brushing his hand over the smoldering charcoal "can create so much smoke. Nature really is confusing, but wondrous at the same time." His tone was in a very smart, soft, I-know-what-I'm-talking-about tone that you would never expect Kiba to have. Especially after that one night. Oh yes, Sasuke remembered that night, when Kiba caused the raven to have a killer headache.

Sasuke just stayed quiet. After a couple of minutes, Kiba left, muttering something about finding something to eat. Sasuke silently thanked Kiba for leaving him, and he started to figure out what he had known about the accident. Naruto… he had supposedly gotten hit by kunai… But he turned into a log and missed… And Orochimaru… He said that Naruto didn't really love… him…

Sasuke was puzzled. His thoughts were all jumbled up, and it was resulting in nothing but bad thoughts. "I have to get alone," he whispered to himself, as he stood up shakily. He jumped to a tree close by, and almost fell off the branch he had chose to land on. He got a few trees away before he dropped down to a thick, low branch and just sat there.

It was cold now that there was no fire in his face. A wind swept by, and leaves rustled with it. _'Did he… Did Orochimaru really say that? That Naruto… that he didn't love me?' _the Uchiha contemplated. He brought his fist down against the tree and splintered the wood. "Dammit, I don't remember!" he snarled to himself. Nothing came to him. "Nothing, I don't remember any interactions between me and Naruto other than when I woke up in his house and the accident. "Did Naruto really love me?" he asked himself, "or did I love him?"

Sasuke sighed. "What do I remember about Naruto?"

A list of things popped into the raven's head. He remembered what Naruto looked like, but he had seen Naruto earlier. He had also been too comfortable with Naruto earlier. And I was all instinct, what his body commanded him to do.

He needed to ask Naruto. He had to get answers. And what about the dream that he had? That was an interesting dream. In it, he had been fighting with Naruto, who kept saying "I hate you", over and over, to the point of annoyance, and Sasuke had killed him, but then, for some weird reason, the raven had killed himself. It was making him wonder how much Naruto really meant to him.

Okay, continuing with the list, Sasuke remembered calling him "dobe", but he had done that all his life. He also remembered the Rasengan, Naruto's jutsu.

Sasuke punched and splintered the tree again. "Why?" he gasped. "Why can't I remember anything about him?!"

Everything lit up with a flash of lightening, followed soon after by a roar of thunder. Sasuke sat there, awaiting the rainfall. And it came. It soaked him, wet to the bone, and he just sat under that tree, pushing his memory.

Another flash lit everything, and this time, there was a mysterious person standing in front of him. It was a girl, and she was tall. He couldn't see her face because it was covered by a giant red hood that belonged to the robe that she was wearing. Her purple hair was braided and resting on her shoulders. All he could see of her face was her mouth.

"Who are you?" he demanded. The girl just smiled silently. Sasuke was getting impatient. "Answer me!" he growled.

"What is more important, my name or my purpose?" the girl asked in a quiet, sing-song voice.

Sasuke was taken aback. Why was this girl talking back to him? "Both," he snarled.

The girl smiled. "Good choice," she whispered. She stepped closer to the Uchiha, who immediately pulled out his Sharingan along with a kunai. The girl sighed and said, "Do not attack me, troubled Uchiha; fore I am not here to harm you. If I show any form of threat, you may attack me."

Sasuke stared to lower the kunai, but glared at the girl. She knew his name. He opened his mouth, but she put her long index finger against his lips. "Do not speak. Yes, I know your name, but that is irrelevant right now." She took a big breath. "My name is Niha Shinobu, and I am not of any village. I am not a rogue, more of a wanderer. My purpose is to unlock a person's hidden secrets and thoughts."

Sasuke gave her a weird look. _'She can read… a person's thoughts?!'_ Sasuke's head screamed. Before he could say anything, she placed her hand against his forehead. "Suffering and hatred and confusion, yet also yearning and love. You've had a hard life, and it will not ever get any easier." She smiled a relaxed smile and whispered, "You must watch out. What you want most will always be out of reach. And when you finally will grab a hold of it, it will break."

"What the hell is it that I want? My memories?" Sasuke snarled. He was getting angry because Shinobu, if that was even her name, was getting on his nerves with her weird ways.

The girl was not taken back by Sasuke's words. "Is it your memories that you have wanted all your life?" she asked. Another challenging question for Sasuke.

She slowly bent down and kissed Sasuke's forehead. "Do not worry, the next will know." She backed away from Sasuke, smiled at him one last time, and turned to leave. Her silhouette disappeared with the darkness of the forest.

Sasuke was, again, taken a back by her kiss, but he let it pass. "So it's not my memories?" he asked the darkness where she had left at. He punched the tree for a third time, splintering it again. "Who is the 'next'? The next person I see? Is it my next date? Who?" Sasuke groaned and clutched his head tightly in his hands.

- - - Konoha - - -

"Hokage!" a shinobi exclaimed, bursting into the Hokage's office. "The squad sent out found… Naruto."

He slowed himself down once he realized that the Hokage was with several important other people in the room. Tsunade nodded once and replied with, "I hope they have a safe journey home."

The shinobi nodded solemnly and slowly left, closing the door behind him. When he was gone, Tsunade let out a sigh. She turned her attention to her important guests and said, "Okay, so, why is it that you are here?"

An elderly man, who was skinny and had a long beard, stepped forward and said, "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but it's time for a new Hokage to take charge. You have been a great Hokage these couple of years, but it is time you were to be replaced."

Tsunade nodded at the man's words. "Am I the one who will choose the next or will your council be?" she asked.

"We will get both my council's opinion and yours. If they are different, we will have to decide together who will be fit for the job," he replied. "Were you considering someone in particular?"

Tsunade nodded. "Then your pick should be a wise one," he advised her, before him and some of the members of his council followed him out of the room. "I hope to see your pick," he said before leaving the room.

- - - July 10 : Somewhere in a forest nowhere near Konoha - - -

"Sasuke, he's awake!" Sakura exclaimed, jumping up and down excitedly on her quest to retrieve Sasuke for Naruto. Sasuke was sitting up in a tree, still trying to collect his thoughts and memories when Sakura interrupted him.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree, wondering whether he should see him or not. _'Probably,'_ Sasuke thought. He made his way to the pink-haired Kunoichi, who repeated her message to him. "Take me to him," was Sasuke's reply.

When they reached Naruto's tent, Sakura left Sasuke and went out to find Kiba, muttering about lunch. Sasuke unzipped the tent and ducked inside. He found Naruto, sitting up with his legs crossed ( criss-cross applesauce style :D ). His chest was bandaged up, and he had a bandage on one of his cheeks, but other than that, he seemed okay. He was grinning at the raven. "Oi, teme, long time no see!" he chirped.

Sasuke stared at him with a sarcastic look that read 'oh ha ha, so funny.' Naruto pouted. "Are you not gonna talk to me?" he whined.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "There's nothing really to talk about," he replied. He sat down and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Nothing to talk about?!" Naruto erupted. "There are loads of things to talk about! Like you memories! What all do you remember?" Naruto really cared for Sasuke, more than the teme thought, even when he had all his memory.

"I remember a lot, okay! I also lost a lot!" snarled the Uchiha. Yeah, he wasn't in a good mood since that girl had read his mind.

"Like what?" Naruto persisted. "Go from when you woke at my house to now."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine," he breathed the Uchiha in defeat. "I remember waking up at your house. Then something with you drowning… I think it happened at a waterfall. And then a date, but I don't remember who with." Sasuke saw Naruto roll his eyes and let out a sigh. Sasuke dismissed these actions and continued. "I also remember you getting extremely sick, and I got a huge headache because Kiba visited."-Naruto smiled at his and chuckled to himself, muttering something like 'that's Kiba for you'- "And then when you were better, we got attacked by Orochimaru."

Naruto nodded slowly. "And I don't remember any details," confessed the raven. "I don't even remember the guy's name that we fought with Orochimaru." _'Pitiful," _Sasuke's head sternly told him.

Naruto smiled at him. "Don't worry, you'll get them back. Then everything will be back to normal. But if they don't, you'll live. It's not like they mean anything." Naruto was bleeding on the inside, but not physically. He had gone through so much to be a good match for Sasuke, to have him respect him as more of a friend, and now Sasuke doesn't remember any of it. '_He probably doesn't even feel for me anymore,'_ the blonde thought sadly.

**Sadly, this may be the only time we see Shinobu... But whatever. She's not important. Just her words...**


	11. The Swim

**I could give a bunch of excuses about why I haven't updated in a while, but I won't. Just enjoy the story. I hope to update faster and more. ;)**

**Disclaimer - I do not nor will I ever own Naruto or any of the character. Heck, I'll never even own a ninja. I'll only wish.**

-- July 12: Konoha --

Sasuke groaned out of sheer boredom. Ever since they got back yesterday to the village, he had nothing to do. Normally, he would be training like hell or figuring out ways to kill Itachi. But to him, none of that mattered at the moment. He had currently spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out the meaning and answers to Shinobu's riddles. He kept coming to dead ends, so he decided to give up on that for today. Sure, he was smart, but riddles weren't his thing.

Sasuke longed for his memories. Probably, if he hadn't lost them, he'd be spending his whole day with Naruto instead of being all alone cooped up in his house. They also left him clueless to what his friendships were currently. He knew Ino and Sakura still obsessed over him, Kiba was a friend, and Naruto was… closer than a friend, but still kind of an enemy. Or was he? Sasuke shook his head in anger. Again, he went off with little memories of Naruto. But this time was because he hadn't gathered too much information from the previous days, though his memories were a huge part of it.

Sasuke hated his life. Not enough to kill himself, but he hated it. All the bad stuff happened to him. And it was true. Every fight, he would get knocked out or so badly injured so that he couldn't help finish the fight, but he always dealt just enough damage on the opponent to aid Naruto in finishing the fight. Like in both the fights against Haku and Gaara, the guys in the Land of Tea, and in even in the fight against Orochimaru. It was kind of a cliché.

There was a loud series of knocks on the front door. Sasuke maneuvered his way through his house towards the door. He almost mistook the kitchen to be the way to be to the door because that's how it was in Naruto's house.

When he reached the door, he opened it and was almost immediately blinded by the sun. When the light was no longer blinding him, he saw Naruto standing on his step. "Hey, I was bored, so I decided to drop by," Naruto grinned. "Can I come in?" He normally wouldn't have to ask, he was just being mannerly.

Sasuke let out a short nod. He shut the door as soon as the blonde was in the house. Naruto stood for a second, admiring the beauty of the expensive things that were placed in an organized manner throughout the house. This was the first time he had ever gone into the house. It was a masterpiece. "Wow," Naruto smiled. "You don't see this everyday."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And why are you over here?" he asked. It was odd, the words and the actions just came to him.

Naruto grinned wildly. "Because I'm bored," he simply answered. "And hungry," he added. "Do you have any food?"

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. "Duh," he replied. "What do you want?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, something that Sasuke was not used to. "Take a guess. It starts with an "R" and ends with "amen"." He grinned.

Sasuke didn't reply. He just guided the blonde to the kitchen. "Use whatever you want. I don't care." Out of a cabinet, he got out a pan, filled it partly with water, and placed it on his stove as he turned the burner to high. Then he got a package of ramen noodles and placed them next to the stove as he waited for the water to boil.

In the meantime, Naruto had rummaged through the fridge, collecting ingredients for the meal. By the time he had everything out, the water was boiling. So, he took the ingredients and threw them in at the same time that Sasuke put the noodles in. Naruto grinned. "You know, the last time I had ramen was when you cooked it," he announced.

Sasuke nodded. He didn't know what Naruto was talking about, but it had probably happened.

"You made it for me because I got pissed at you and you got pissed at me. So it was kind of a happy treat!" The blonde grinned stupidly, but his smile faded fast. That was also the day Sasuke told him he loved him. That's the day Sasuke saved him and kissed him… That day had more meaning to him than just ramen.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Sasuke's concern broke Naruto's thoughts of the past and brought him back to the present. "Hey, Sasuke, have you ever… wondered about our friendship?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Sasuke was taken aback by the question. "Yeah, of course I have!" he answered, rolling his eyes. "We used to be rivals, but ever since I've gotten back, you've kinda become one of my… close friends." He really didn't want to openly admit it, but what he said was truth.

Naruto nodded. So that's all he thought about him: a close friend. He smiled, but it turned into a grin as he looked up at Sasuke. "That's good!" he exclaimed. It wasn't great, but it was good enough. Well, it was good enough for the time being.

Sasuke looked at the blonde weirdly as he dug his chopsticks into the delicious, noodley treat. _'Why would he ask me a question like that?' _the raven pondered. It wasn't like the Naruto that he had imprinted in his memories… Or was it? The question flew through his head, unanswered.

Sasuke was still staring at his noodles, thoughts flying through his head when Naruto slammed his bowl down on the table, licking his lips. "Mmm, that was some good stuff. Man, you sure know how to make ramen," Naruto grinned. "Now come on, I wanna go do something fun!" he exclaimed, springing up. He grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulled him out into the living room.

Sasuke glared at the blonde. "And why are you dragging me around like a rag doll?" he demanded.

Naruto let him go. "Because I want to do something," he whined.

"I thought we just were doing something."

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, but I finished, so I decided we should do something else. Something less boring, something more fun!" The way he said it was like a little kid. A little kid that, no matter how obnoxious or annoying he got, he could always make you smile with him.

Sasuke walked over to the expensive leather couch and sat down with his arms folded across his chest and crossed his legs. "And what exactly is it that you want to do?" he asked.

"I wanna go swimming!"

- - -

Naruto led Sasuke through a thick clump of trees. All around them were green leaves, dancing with the wind around their brown trunks. Nobody seemed to have come by here in a long time. It was really dark.

It almost reminded Sasuke of the night they fought Orochimaru. Almost.

"Hey Naruto, how much longer?" asked the Uchiha.

Naruto looked back at Sasuke and grinned. "Almost there," he replied. He made a sharp right turn and jumped through a clump of bushes and branches.

Sasuke noticed a small white ribbon tied to a large branch overhead right where Naruto had changed directions. He made a mental note of this and followed the blonde's actions.

He emerged at a river. Its current was swift, and there was a sudden drop-off a little ways away. Naruto was already standing at the river's edge, smiling at Sasuke. "Come on, it's just down the waterfall!" he exclaimed. He took off running along the river's edge. Sasuke was right at his heels.

"Geronimo!" Naruto laughed, leaping off the cliff. He landed on his feet on the bank of the pool at the foot of the waterfall. Sasuke landed next to him. He looked around. The sparkling water rippled constantly due to the crashing water of the waterfall and the trees swayed quietly in the wind.

Naruto took off his jacket and shirt and rolled up his pants. He untied his headband from its place on his forehead and folded it nicely in his shirt. Lastly, he kicked off his shoes and waded into the water. He stopped when he was about knee deep and dived into the deep water of the pool.

Sasuke stripped himself of his shirt and shoes. He unwrapped his leg wraps and was starting on his arms when Naruto resurfaced. "You're so slow!" accused Naruto, treading in the deep water.

Sasuke ignored the rude comment and finished undressing his arms. He took his time to make it into the water. He looked across the surface, past Naruto. His vision wasn't focused on anything, just scanning. "I know this place," Sasuke mumbled to himself.

"Of course you do," said Naruto, who was floating around in the water. "This place has an important meaning to both of us." He dived back under the surface.

Sasuke walked to the edge of the shallow water. He looked down and saw Naruto spiraling around in the water, enjoying himself. "But what's so important about it?" he asked.

Naruto surfaced again and shook the water from his sopping wet hair. Some of the liquid splashed Sasuke, who deliberately splashed Naruto back even though the former was intentional. The splash hit Naruto like a sitting duck. "Hey!" he exclaimed in surprise, before splashing Sasuke back.

The two's splash fight turned into a drench fight. Sasuke and Naruto both sent waves at each other, threw water balls at one another, and conjured up any innocent water jutsu at each other that they could think of.

"Rock shift jutsu," Naruto said. At first, nothing happened. But on the surface, a large wave started up. It was large, the equivalent of a tsunami for this little water hole. It crashed on Sasuke and knocked him off his feet. He quickly got up when Naruto charged at him. The blonde was planning to get him out of the shallow water and into the depths of the pool, but Sasuke threw seven water balls at him. To avoid them all, Naruto jumped into the air. Just what Sasuke wanted. He teleported behind his blonde friend and grabbed him. It was going to be like Rock Lee's Hidden Lotus Jutsu, where he would slam Naruto into the deep water. He wrapped his arms around the blonde, on arm around his chest and the other around his waist. He redirected their angle so they were falling head-first to the ground. "You lose," he whispered into Naruto's ear, just before he let Naruto go, shot into the depths of the water. He landed a little ways away, in the deep end of the pond.

He stuck his head under to see if Naruto was okay. He swam under and found Naruto standing on the rocky bottom. He kicked off from the rocks right at Sasuke. He wrapped both arms around the raven at the waist and they emerged from the pool, both out of breath. Naruto let go of Sasuke and said, "It's a tie. We both win."

"How?" asked the raven. He hadn't really understood the rules of winning. He just wanted to say that because if it were a battle, he would have won there.

Naruto grinned. "I just wanted to get you soaking wet, and since I got my way, it's a tie."

"Whatever," Sasuke replied.

Something was biting him. A memory, but he couldn't remember the details. Naruto had… drowned? And he saved him. Yeah, something like that.

"Hey Naruto, did you… did you sprang you ankle here?" he asked.

"Yeah, that was a while ago," Naruto answered, his own memories resurfacing. He smiled when he thought of their kiss. He never would know why he returned it. It was just experimental. And the experiment worked well. And thanks to Orochimaru, they could be friends again without going through hard emotions. "I tripped into the deep end of the pool and twisted my ankle. I gasped, lost my breath, and took in water. If you weren't there to save me…" Naruto replayed the kiss scene in his head. "I would've probably been dead." Those were the Uchiha's exact words when he had saved him.

Silence coated the two for a couple of minutes. "Was that all that happened?" asked Sasuke. It was his last question for now, depending on the answer.

"Yeah," Naruto lied. "You just stayed with me until I was better and left." Sasuke just nodded.

"Come on, it's starting to get late. We should head home."

- - -

**Ah, just another 11 days (in the story) until a certain Uchiha's birthday. Yipee! Yay! Whatever. **


	12. The Sand

**God I need to work on this more. Stupid brother, always taking the computer from me. Anyway, I should prioritize this instead of complain. So yes, I should be up again soon, cause I'll push myself to (although I'd rather write my actual story, not fanfiction, but whatever.)**

**Enjoy, even after the long, long, long update. **

- - - July 18 - - -

Nothing. No memories came to Sasuke in the following six days. "They'll come on their own, just give them time," Tsunade told him one day when she had looked at him.

Okay, so nothing was a total lie. He remembered fighting Rock Lee at the preliminaries back when they were just kids. He also had an image in his mind, a guy with red hair and sand. Yeah, sand. He could almost feel the prickling particles on his skin. As of what he had remembered about recently, he remembered Orochimaru's right-hand-man's name. It was something like Omanyte or Kabuto or Kariboh something along those lines. And he thought that he had pissed Naruto off when he had waked up from when Naruto had gotten him back to Konoha after all those years in the first chapter, but again, he had no clue.

Before he could continue, his front door flew open, with a loud, "Sasuke, c'mon! I wanna hurry! The sooner we get to the Suna, the better!" whined the loud, obnoxious voice that had been filling Sasuke's life the last six days and days before them.

So they had a mission today. Report news of Konoha to the Kazekage, the ally of the village, they had gotten. Like that was hard. It would only take about a day if they were lucky to get to the village, as Naruto had explained beforehand. _Another day with Naruto was exactly what I need_ sarcastically thought the bothered raven. Boy was that kid annoying.

Sasuke enjoyed Naruto's company, but the problem was that he enjoyed it a little too much. He didn't enjoy the loud, annoying, whiny sounds of the blonde's voice when he was loud, but he liked the calmer, more respective to other's ear drums Naruto.

Sasuke threw a couple of kunai in a pocket of his pant pouch before sitting down to wrap up his arms in his arm wraps. Naruto walked into the room and pouted at how slow the Uchiha was going. "Teme, hurry up! You're so slow, a snail could outrace you. No, Shikamaru could race you in his sleep! Get a move on!"

God, he was so demanding. Sasuke finished with his left arm and started on his right arm at the same pace, causing Naruto to continue on about how slow the Uchiha was. "Ondelay, slow-poke Uchiha! You're so slow!" whined the blonde.

So Sasuke hurried to shut the blonde up. Normally, he would have just gone slower, but he decided to get the whining over with instead of dealing with him.

As soon as he was done, he was almost dragged to the front gate of Konoha before he could have bat an eye. _Impatient dobe, _Sasuke thought bitterly to himself before he started walking, instead of being dragged behind like a slow dog, out of the village.

As the two ninja jumped from tree to tree, ran along the grassy floor of the forest, across bogs and swamps, and even through a dark cave, Naruto talked. And talked. And talked. And talked.

The talk was soothing for Sasuke's yearning for memories. Naruto explained things that had happened, whether the raven had remembered them or not. He even added in and corrected the several outrageous lies Naruto told to see if Sasuke was listening or remembered. He talked about their first big fight against Zabuza, he talked about their fight about Zabuza and Haku, he chatted on about the Chuunin exams, and about the Prelims and the actual tournament that turned into a trap for Konoha. He yapped about losing to Sasuke (Which Sasuke remembered, by the way, every last detail) at the giant waterfall. Naruto yammered on about the Akatsuki, and how he had beaten Kazuku's butt, and how Sakura took down Akasuna no Sasori, and that Kakashi had almost beat Deidara.

When the blonde mentioned the other blonde's name, something clicked in Sasuke's head. "Oh, yeah, I beat him."

Naruto nodded and continued. He talked about Itachi and Kisame, and looked expectantly at Sasuke, but Sasuke remained passive. _Itachi_, he thought_, I think that that name is familiar… hmm…_ He couldn't place his finger on it, but it definitely rang a small bell in the back of the Uchiha's head.

Naruto went on, about everything and anything, until they reached the edge of a very sandy desert. It was getting dark out, but it wasn't completely dark yet. Still almost twilight. "We'll make it tonight, don't worry," Naruto grinned.

Sasuke just nodded as the two set out across the barren wasteland.

- - - Later that Twilight - - -

"Look Sasuke, there's the village! We're almost there! Let's hurry!" Naruto exclaimed, bouncing up and down in excitement.

Sasuke just looked. Yes, he could see the buildings, but he didn't think he was exactly excited about being there. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, but he didn't remember.

"I've had enough of not knowing why," he mumbled to himself so his partner couldn't hear. No, Naruto wouldn't hear, because he was too busy filling his own eardrums with the sound of his own chatter about other things. "-and then, we'll go see Temari and tell her that Shikamaru sends his love, and then, we'll probably leave and go back home!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his annoying companion. "And when did you decide what we would be doing?"

"Just now!" piped the blonde.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. _Oh great, making plans, are we?_ Sasuke was none the happy with Naruto.

Said blonde, however, was buzzing with the stuff. It was like he was emitting waves of happiness. "Man, I haven't seen the sand trio in forever!" he grinned. "You remember them, right? Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari?"

Something didn't seem right about those three to Sasuke. He felt uneasy in this country.

The two kept walking, trekking the rest of the way through the desert, into the village, up the streets and past the stalls in the open air market. They soon arrived at the building with the Kazekage in it, and proceeded up the stairs that lead to the building. Sasuke had to lean his head way back to see the top. Damn that thing was tall. They were met with some icy glares and some warm smiles.

"Naruto!" called a girl with four sandy colored pig-tails jutting out of her head. She wore a purple and black kimono and had a giant fan attached to her back.

"Temari!" exclaimed the blonde, grinning as he saw the girl._ Temari. That kinda sounded familiar. Only slightly, though. Like we've fought before or something. Hmm… _thought the raven. He was getting terribly irritated that he couldn't remember even the small things_._

"You here to see Gaara?" asked the female blonde.

Naruto's grin widened. "Yeah!"

Temari nodded and smiled at the two. "This way, then." She started to lead them into the tall building. She led them through a humongous hallway lined with candles and many benches, couches, and tables. It looked like a party hall.

While Sasuke was soaking in the sights of the huge stain glass windows, the designs on the expensive couches, and everything else in the hallway, Naruto was busy chatting to Temari.

"And he asked me out! I was so appalled! He knew I was going out with Shikamaru, but no, he still asked me. I felt bad turning him down because he was such a good friend. And then, he even went as far as to-- Kankuro! Where have you been?! We've been looking all day for you, and now you choose to show up, when we have guests!" Temari's conversation about boys turned to yelling at her brother when she saw him lounging on one of the couches with a goblet in one hand a sandwich in the other.

Kankuro shrugged. "We have guests everyday. And it's not like anyone cared that I was out. Can't a guy spend anytime with the girls around here?" He turned to look at Naruto and Sasuke standing next to his sister, and waved passively. "Hey Naruto. Hey other Konoha kid. Sasuke, right?"

Sasuke nodded in both an answer and an acknowledgement to the greeting. Naruto grinned and waved back. "Hey Kankuro!"

Temari turned red with anger at the fact that she had basically been ignored. "Gaara cared! It was hard enough work with just the two of us, and you were nowhere to be seen. You're really going to get it this time!"

Kankuro waved Temari off. "Psh, whatever. It's not like I care," he answered. Before Temari could yell at him again, he scratched at his hair and said, "You'd better get going before you get chewed out by the Kazekage."

Sasuke could imagine that the next time they saw the hooded face-painted ninja, he would be all beaten up by his sister, but that was none of the Uchiha's concern.

Temari quietly continued to lead them down the hall, cursing and muttering to herself under her breath. _Oh yeah, clowny's dead,_ thought Sasuke. If there was something the raven knew, he knew that an upset girl was more unpleasant than any force of nature. He could (happily) recall Sakura beating on Naruto so many times before because she had been angered by the stupid blonde.

After the hallway, they were lead up a giant spiral staircase with sandy steps. The windows were open, and there was about two windows for ever ten steps. A nice wind was blowing as the night was just setting in. Not quite night, but after twilight. A full moon shone in the clear skies, surrounded by more stars than the Uchiha could ever recall seeing.

After the long, winding stairs, they were lead down a short, narrow hallway lit by nothing but the moon itself before stopping at the last door on the right side. Temari knocked twice, then said, "Have fun," before opening the door and pushing the two guests through the door and shutting it behind them, leaving them in an enormous room. The whole wall in front of the two Leaf ninja was open to the night to a balcony. The giant moon filtered gallons of light into the room, making it easy to see despite the lack of lights. A desk stood in front of them, and on the balcony stood a person, silhouetted against the night sky.

Sasuke could feel the sand on his skin. He couldn't tell if the silhouetted person in front of him was facing away or staring at him. A silence lingered around the room for a few seconds, before it evaporated by the sounds of a loud voice. "Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, the great Tsunade baa-chan, has sent me, Uzumaki Naruto, and my partner, Uchiha Sasuke, to visit the most excellent Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village, Gaara, with news of Konoha!"

Another silence lingered. _Naruto was too formal, _Sasuke thought, pinching his eyebrows together.

"And I wanted to say hi!" continued the blonde. "It's been a while."

"Indeed it has." The Kagekaze's voice was deeper than Sasuke had expected, deeper than his memory, even if he had had it, remembered. He turned and looked at the two reporters.


End file.
